The Long Winter
by TK Takaishi
Summary: Five months after the initial invasion. It is now the middle of winter, and the destined struggle to survive in the barren and war-torn wasteland that is Earth. What happens to Tai and his followers? To Matt and his band? I had a lot of help from TS on th
1. Default Chapter Title

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The Long Winter: Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. This fic was produced purely for entertainment purposes, and I promise not to sell it. So there. Don't sue me.

**Author's notes: Yeah, yeah, I know I said I wouldn't write again for some time, but then, the truth was, I couldn't stay away. I'm hooked on my own fic, sad isn't it? Don't worry about exams though, I think I've got it under control.

Anyway, this is set five months later, and as you can tell, it's winter. This chapter's a little slow, but hey, I'm setting up for the good stuff. Bear with me here. I'm also going to put in a little drama (Ok, a lot of drama), along with the action. Pure action just seems, like, I don't know…so superficial, you know what I mean? Read on, and see what happens to Matt and Tai's groups, and Willis, etc.

PS. I seem to be a sucker for taking titles from books. "Yesterday when the War Began" was taken from a novel called "Tomorrow when the War Began", and "The Long Winter", if you haven't read it already, is a book about american pioneers on the prairies, by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Five months later

The slow, sad-sounding notes of a harmonica filled the air. Slowly, the blond haired boy played the instrument, trying to hold onto the notes, trying to remember what it was like before the war began.

He sighed, and put the instrument down. No, he couldn't do it. It's too depressing. He glanced instead at Gabumon, curled up into a ball, and sleeping away. Sleep nowadays was so rare, Matt didn't have the heart to wake him.

__

Why'd you stop playing Matt?

It's too depressing. That song always gives me the blues.

The blond boy smiled at the memory, then his grin turned bittersweet. The one who'd asked him why he'd stopped playing was long gone, killed by Diaboromon. A tear coursed down his cheek, for the comrades that he'd lost, that he was still losing, in this whole insane war. Angrily, he wiped it away. He was the leader. If the others saw him like this, it would be disastrous for morale.

Matt glanced out the window. The ruins of Tokyo looked even more depressing than ever. Underneath a lead gray sky, flakes of soft, pure white snow drifted downwards. A light blanket covered everything in sight. The settling rubble of the once proud city blocks were lightly dusted by the light flakes. _It's going to be a white Christmas_, the boy thought sadly.

Christmas, the season of hope. His lips twitched up in an ironic half-smile. _Christmas_. And now look at everything. The once proud human race, reduced to scrabbling about in the dust, crushed by Diaboromon back to the stone age. _This is hope?_

Most of the human race had been wiped out. Those hardy few that survived were forced to eke out a meager existence out in the wilds. Vicious, starving gangs roamed the cities, and gang resource wars raged across the world. But it didn't stop there.

Diaboromon had established his headquarters in Tokyo. His minions were now firmly entrenched around the globe, established in every major city and country. Matt's eyes turned grim as his thoughts turned back to the war. The only blessing was that Diaboromon had apparently been unable to replicate more copies of himself in the real world. Thus, he had been forced to bring over reinforcements from the digiworld.

Matt's little underground resistance were still puzzling over how Diaboromon had managed it. About a month after the initial invasion, other types of digimon had appeared, mainly Bakemon. None of them were nearly as powerful as a Diaboromon, but in the numbers they appeared in, they were still dangerous. Certainly enough to defeat the unorganized and disbanded human resistance.

"Matt? You OK in there?" his father opened the door. A pool of golden light washed in from the outside room. From outside, Matt could hear the plastic clacking of keys as Mr. Izumi continued to work on his computer. Kari and Joe were talking about something in low-key voices. Gatomon was perched on Kari's shoulder, and Gomamon was somewhere or other, probably checking on supplies.

"Yeah Dad, I'm fine." Matt smiled at his father, trying to reassure him. They had found his father, Mr. Izumi, and Jim Kido on the streets shortly after he and Joe had returned from the failed rendezvous. They were the only people, apart from the digidestined, that Matt had found. All the others had simply disappeared. Matt had no idea if they were even alive.

"Happy Christmas Eve."

Matt snorted. "Happy Christmas Eve. Who can think about Christmas at a time like this." He sighed. "Well, thanks anyway."

His father smiled at his son. Then snapped his fingers. "Oh yeah, I need to tell you something. Mr. Izumi's still trying to get us online without being detected by Diaboromon. I just sent TK out to gather some supplies for us. He should be back by morning."

A few months ago, Matt would have been worried sick about sending TK out alone into the wasteland out there. Not anymore.

Over the past few months, Matt had seen his little brother mature and grow up into the most capable soldier a commander could hope for. TK had…changed. He was still as compassionate and gentle as he always used to be, but now, the wide-eyed innocence he carried about him as a child was gone. Instead, his demeanor seemed to be constantly tinged with a slight sadness, permanently left on his heart and soul by the atrocities he'd seen in the last few months. _TK can take care of himself, probably better than I can._

Matt nodded at his father, acknowledging the news, then turned back to his silent contemplation of the ruined cityscape. His father, knowing when he had been dismissed, started to close the door.

"No Dad, leave the door open." Matt gave his Dad a half-smile. "It gets a little dark in here."

His father nodded once, and left the door ajar as he left. Matt turned back to the window again as he thought about what had happened over the last 5 months.

Diaboromon had apparently repaired the majority of the Internet, and had modified it until it resembled a gigantic version of Etemon's Dark Network. Almost nothing went by around the world without him noticing. However, it was that network that Matt intended to use against him.

Mr. Mark Izumi was himself a respected computer expert. Once Matt had managed to get him a working computer, he had been trying to find a way to get past Diaboromon's firewall, and into the network without being detected. Matt's eyes narrowed as he played the idea around in his head. Once they were in, they could get almost unlimited information on Diaboromon's troop movements, how he had managed to transport Digimon over from the digiworld to bolster his ranks, wreak havoc with his network…

Matt shook his head. It would not do to count your chickens before they hatched. _The leader that looks too far ahead trips over his own feet_. He would see how the network idea played out, and then would plan accordingly. Sighing, the blond boy abruptly got up and walked out of the room.

The small, underground resistance was still stationed in the abandoned building that Kari and TK had stayed in all those months ago. Now though, it had been modified into a proper little base. Supplies, food, water, small cots lined the sides, and a weak bulb in the center of the room illuminated the place. Weapons lined the far wall. His father had managed to rig up a gasoline generator to run the computer and the light.

Walking up behind Mark, he leaned over his shoulder. "How goes it?"

Mr. Izumi made a face. "Slow. This firewall's really giving me problems, and even if I do manage to get in, I have to somehow avoid detection while I do it."

Matt pondered that for a moment. "Then…any progress on how Diaboromon seems to be tracking our digimon?"

Mark sighed. "None as well. I'm sticking to my original hypothesis. Since Diaboromon almost invariably manage to show up after your digimon digivolve, then I'm guessing he can track that somehow." He looked over his shoulder and at Matt. "I still have no idea how digivolution works, so I'm not exactly qualified to make a judgement on this."

Matt stared back. "Neither do I. No one does. What I'm asking for is a reason why he seems to be able to track our digimon."

The older man thought about it for a moment, then he said, "Well, according to the laws of physics and energy, although energy cannot be destroyed or created, each time energy changes form, or is transferred between objects, a little is lost from the system. So, if you carry that idea out…"

Matt interrupted. "I don't want the whole science lecture. Just get to the point." _Izzy, are you sure you were adopted?_

Mark didn't seem offended, he was used to it. "Fine. I'm guessing he can somehow detect the energy that is being released whenever you digivolve, or whenever your digimon use one of their attacks. Being in the real world, such releases of digital energy are probably unnatural. He could probably track energy bursts on a big screen somewhere, and then direct troops at them."

Matt looked at Gabumon, still catching a nap in the other room. "So…there's no way we can get around that?"

Izzy's father shook his head. "I don't even know what type of energy we're dealing with here. Even with a full-sized lab and proper funding, it could take years to try to find out a way to mask or dampen the energy released. With what we have now…I'm telling you Matt, it's impossible."

Matt sighed. Looking over at his older friend, he gave him a slight smile. "Well, good work anyway. If you come up with anything new, tell me, alright?"

"Gotcha."

Matt nodded, and accepted the fact. He went over an inventory of what he had at his disposal at the moment.

The parents were certainly helpful. Mr. Izumi and his father's knowledge of computers had enabled them to attempt breaking into the network, and Jim, Joe's older brother, had become a rather effective field medic.

He glanced around the room. Kari and Joe no longer seemed to be talking, and instead, Kari seemed to be concentrating hard on carving a small piece of glass in her hand. Gatomon was curled up in her lap, catnapping. She seemed to have worked on that object for the past 2 weeks at least, whatever it was. She wouldn't let anyone see it, especially TK. Joe had gone onto the roof to take his turn at sentry duty. Although they were both children, they were after all, digidestined. Both of them were reliable, and could be counted on. Matt would trust his life to either of them without a second thought.

Then Matt turned his gaze back out the window again. TK would be out there right now, gathering supplies for the small resistance. _The snow looks so peaceful_, the blond boy thought as he contemplated the serenely falling flakes. For a moment, he forgot about the entire insane war, about the resistance, and lost himself in the flakes. He could remember times as a child when he had been similarly mesmerized, eager for Christmas to come, pleading with his parents to let him open his Christmas presents ahead of time.

Then he looked down. The debris-filled and ruined streets and buildings stared back up at him with stark relief. Matt sighed. _This war is everywhere,_ he thought bleakly. The human race was threatened with extinction, and here he was thinking about snowflakes.

**New York**

Tai stared sadly at the crumbling remains of New York. _Well, what was I expecting?_ he thought bitterly. _It's not like the United States is invulnerable…_

The city blocks were slumped, rubble filled the deserted streets. Not a single building stood untouched. A chilling wind blew through the ruined city, and Tai shivered as he pulled his coat tighter around him. Agumon stood quietly beside his friend, also scanning the remains of the proud city. His eyes swept around the city, and turned towards the sea.

What he saw depressed him even more. The Statue of Liberty hadn't escaped the wrath of Diaboromon. The once-proud monument, standing boldly for peace and justice, had been leveled into fist-sized blocks of copper. It was as if liberty and hope had finally fallen, crushed by the darkness that was threatening to envelop the world.

"Tai, come on. We have to do what we came here to do."

The brown-haired boy stifled a sigh, his breath blowing out in a frozen cloud of vapour. Sora's hand rested on his shoulder for a moment, and he turned and gazed into her crimson eyes, giving her a weak smile. Sora smiled back, grateful that their leader was all right. _How typical of her,_ Tai thought. _She's always the caring and protective one of the group._ These days, he was beginning to appreciate her more and more.

Following Sora, he walked back to where the rest of the group was resting. Izzy was somehow working on his computer with gloves, his fingers typing on the keyboard without being slowed down at all. Tentomon was slumped on the frozen ground, his wings flapping weakly as he rested. Mimi was resting tiredly on her haunches, while Palmon hugged herself with her vines and shivered. Tai smiled at them. The one blessing in this war, was that he had loyal comrades at his side to face it. Together with his friends, he felt invincible. _They're all the family I have left now…_

They had picked up a very, _very_ confused and scared Mimi about 2 months ago. At the time, she had been hiding and running from the Diaboromon patrols, much like Tai and the others had back in Tokyo. It had taken a long time to get across the Pacific to America. After all, it wasn't as if they could just hop on a plane or boat and get there in a few hours. In the end, they had had to hijack a small ship. They had all agreed that a ship was the best way across, since none of them knew how to fly a plane. It wasn't as if they knew how to sail either, but it was at least safer.

After finding Mimi, they had then proceeded to trek across the entire US. Landing on the western side, around Hawaii, they had had to traverse one of the largest countries in the world, _on foot_. They had all changed, growing into an inseparable unit, with an almost militaristic command structure. It couldn't be helped. The constant wandering, the uncertainty, the never-ending problem of supplies and food, the patrols, had all forced them to rely on one another more and more.

At the moment, the brown-haired girl was tapping her foot impatiently against the frozen ground. Having been in a literal living hell for the last 5 months had desensitized her a little to the ruined cityscape. "Come on Tai. This is the first real city we've ever been to in a long, _long¸ _time. At least this time, we won't have to sleep out in the open. Let's go find your precious Willis, and be gone."

Izzy interrupted behind her. "Uh, Mimi. Don't forget that this "Willis" could very well be the person we need to tip the balance of power."

Mimi humphed. "Well, then let's go ahead and find him."

Sora smiled tolerantly at the flighty girl. Mimi may seem a little snobbish at times, but at heart, she was a sincere and loving. Tai turned to Izzy. "Well, we're here. Do you have the address of his house?"

The others stared at him. He shrugged. "OK, he's probably not there, but it's a place to start." He looked around. "Anyone else got any better ideas?"

No-one did. Izzy turned back to his computer and hit a few keys, then turned his laptop around to show the others his screen. It displayed a picture of a young boy, with pale blond hair and bright green eyes, about the age of TK and Kari.

"Here's all that I know about Willis, which isn't much. His full name is Willis Maxwell, (** yes, this was taken from G Wing **). This is how he looks like, as of 5 months ago, so if you see him, you'll recognize him. 10 years old, that is, about the same age as TK and Kari. His home address, according to what corresponded to his email address anyway, is 155 Woodbine Ave. Other than that, we don't know much about him except he seems to have some knowledge about the origin of Diaboromon." Izzy smiled. "We were just passing acquaintances on the web, but he struck me as somewhat of a genius. Kind of a loner though."

They all stared out at New York. The ruined city seemed to stretch on forever, and Tai tuned to Sora. Sora caught his gaze and nodded, then drew out a city map of New York that they had swiped while passing a gas station. "Izzy, where'd you say he lived?"

"155 Woodbine Ave."

"Gotcha" Sora laid out the map, and took out a pen. Leaning over it, she circled the spot where they were standing. "This is where we are. Let's see where we need to go…" Turning the map around, she checked the index, and picked out "Woodbine Ave." Turning back to the map, she circled the street with her pen. "He lives here, or used to live here."

Tai studied the map carefully. "That's about a 15km walk due North." Looking up, he squinted at the sun as it made its pass along the sky. "We'll probably get there by nightfall, taking into accounts the detours we'll probably have to make around patrols and gangs. Even if he's not there, we can probably bunker up in one of the houses there for one night."

Mimi clapped her hands. "Yesss!! We don't have to sleep out in the open tonight!"

Tai stared at her sternly. "Mimi, get serious." Turning back to the group, he laid out orders. "Kay, guys, when we're in the city, there'll probably be patrols and gangs. Keep your eyes open, and no fooling around. Don't talk unless absolutely necessary. Agumon, that goes for you too."

Tai's faithful digimon looked up at him reproachfully, "Come on Tai, you know I can keep my mouth shut when I want to."

Tai smiled back down at the little dinosaur. "Joke, Agumon. Can't you take a joke?"

Tentomon buzzed around their heads eagerly. "Come on then. We're finally at New York, let's go find Willis!"

For the next couple hours, the small group of humans and digimon walked through the city. Keeping to the shadows, they slipped silently through the deserted streets, their senses strained taut for the occasional patrol of Bakemon, or even a lone Diaboromon. Several times they were forced to detour around large city blocks because of a patrol.

Biyomon grumbled as they had to detour around yet another patrol of Bakemon. "I don't see what the problem is. We can take these guys even in our Rookie forms. Why do _we_ have to make way for _them_?"

Sora gazed up and down the streets, constantly turning her head and scanning for potential danger. "You know the reason. The ensuing fight would attract too much attention, which we don't want. As far as anyone is concerned, we don't exist."

Tai tread silently along the uneven pavement, making his way around small hills of wreckage. "Hey Izzy, doesn't this remind you of something?"

Izzy nodded. "It was just like that time in Machinedramon's city. Just us, a whole bunch of patrolling digimon, and a deserted city. Only difference was, Machinedramon's city was in much better shape than this."

The group trudged on. As they got deeper into the metropolis, they found out the city wasn't entirely deserted after all. Several times, they had to detour around gangs of humans, out to scavenge. Sometimes, resource wars erupted over the meager supplies left. Tai shook his head sadly. _Have we really been reduced to this? Fighting and killing amongst ourselves, ready to slaughter over a handful of food?_

The journey to Willis' house was relatively uneventful. By the time they got there, the sun was setting over the western horizon. The suburb that Willis' house was located in was totally deserted, and a lonely wind scoured the streets.

Tai looked up and down the neighborhood. This had once been a prosperous suburb, quiet and secluded. Not anymore. Like other parts of the city, this little suburb had not escaped the wrath of the war. Rotting piles of timber and wreckage littered the streets everywhere, and the ashes of gutted houses lined the sides.

"147…149…can't read the number…doesn't exist anymore…155." Izzy slowly counted out the houses, and stopped in front of the appropriate one. "Here's where he used to live."

Sora looked at the house. "Doesn't look occupied to me."

She was right. The door had been left ajar, and although it stood relatively intact, all the windows had been broken, and it had a deserted feel about it.

Tai shook his head. "We won't know until we go inside. Come on, at least we'll be sheltered from the wind inside."

The rest of the group gratefully followed him into the shelter. Inside, it was a mess. The floors were littered with shattered pieces of furniture. Drawers and cabinets hung open, Willis and his family apparently having left in too much of a hurry to close them. All the major electrical appliances had been blown out. It was dead silent. Even the constant moan of the wind was shut out by the door.

Tai looked around. "Spread out. Sora and I will take the top floor. Izzy, you and Mimi take the ground floor. Yell if you see anything."

The small group nodded, and spread out as ordered.

Half an hour later, the small group slumped exhaustedly on what remained of the couch. "Tai, I'm telling you, there's nothing here." Mimi complained. "I mean, it's not like he'd leave a note about where he'd have gone to."

Tai gritted his teeth. "We have to find that boy. He knows something important. Just tell me what you found. I'll decide whether it's important or not."

Izzy sighed. "Well, we can just forget about pulling anything off his computer. All that's left of it now is a blackened husk from the electrical surge. Nothing survived."

"There's nothing in his room either, except a big mess. No clues about where he went to. He did seem to have kept a dog or something though, since I noticed a little bed." Sora added.

"I checked the garage. I know they own a car since I saw the tire marks on the floor, but it's not there anymore. Not like it would do them any good. No way you can drive a car through the wasteland out there." Mimi mumbled from her slumped over position.

Tai grimaced. "I found nothing either. Just a big mess like Sora." Frustrated he looked out the window again at the ruined neighborhood. _There has to be a way to find him_, he thought angrily to himself. His mind wandered as he tried to think of a new way to search.

Then he frowned. Something had caught his eye. He looked more closely at the destruction outside. A strange pattern was there, something maddeningly out of reach of his conscious mind, but there nonetheless. "Izzy, is it just me, or is there something wrong with that wreckage out there?"

Izzy joined him at the window. The girls, too exhausted, remained at the couch. "What are you talking about?"

"You know, the pattern of the debris doesn't seem right. Can't exactly explain why, but I've seen wreckage left behind by Diaboromon, and that's not it. Somehow…"

Izzy looked out the window, squinting. "I think I know what you mean. Come on, let's go outside for a closer look." Pulling out a powerful flashlight, the two boys stepped outside the door, accompanied by their digimon. Tai glanced back at the girls. "Keep on looking, search _everything_, and if you find something, shout." 

Together, the two boys walked to the nearest destroyed house. The bitter cold hit them again the instant they stepped outside, and both Tai and Izzy shivered. Slowly, they circled the house, trying to decide what it was that had caught their eye in the first place. Finally, Izzy pointed.

"There. That's unusual."

Tai joined him, and put a hand over the peculiar marks. The side of the house was pockmarked with small craters, each about the size of a dinner plate. "Somehow, I don't think a Diaboromon did this."

"No, they can't have. Their attack is Web Wrecker, a big blast of energy. If they had shot that at the house, there'd be nothing left. And it certainly wouldn't leave marks like that."

Izzy looked around, then pointed. "There, see that blast mark over there?" Tai turned his head to see a large crater in the street. "That's more typical of a web wrecker. A large, single crater, and not a series of small ones."

Agumon peered closely at the ground. "Tai, look at this." Tai knelt down by his digimon's side, and put his hand on the black smudge mark there. Running his fingers lightly across it, he inspected his fingertips closely. There were little black flecks of _something_ stuck to his hand. Not quite soot or ash, not your typical battle debris, but somehow it _looked_ familiar…

Tai straightened up. "So…what've we got here?"

Izzy knelt by the marks, peering at them closely. "These look like a lot of relatively weak impacts in a short amount of time, culminating into a devastating net effect. Kind of like a machine gun, except the rounds are a little too big."

"Could it have been done by humans? Resistance perhaps?" Agumon chipped in.

Izzy shook his head. "No way. Not unless they had a full-sized 30mm gatling at their disposal. The kind of slugs that hit this house is of the armour-piercing type. You find that type of gun on tank-killing planes like the A-10, or land-based artillery." He glanced at Tai. "Somehow, I don't think that normal suburban people would have that type of gun in their hands."

Tentomon frowned at the wall. "How about Digimon? Could they have done this?"

Again, Izzy shook his head. "None of the digimon we've seen so far can do this. I suppose if you took 50 rookies in a row, and had them fire at the wall simultaneously, it would create these marks." He snorted. "Why anyone would do that though, is beyond me."

Tai leaned in close to the wall, and ran his hands over the marks again. The phantom bullet marks gleamed faintly in the dying sunlight as it caught the setting sun. "If it's not done by Diaboromon, and not done by humans…" he glanced over at Izzy. "Then who did it?"

Izzy didn't answer. Instead, he was heading back to Willis' house. Tai hurried up to catch him. "What are you doing?"

"I want to get an overall view of the damage pattern. Maybe we can see how the battle played out with a higher view."

Tai huffed. _Why didn't I think of that_, he thought. But he followed the auburn-haired boy into the deserted house, climbing up onto the second floor. Glancing around, Tai looked for the girls. "Sora? Mimi? Did you guys find anything?"

"Mmph…" Mimi replied. Sora was more explicit.

"Nothing Tai, nothing that even remotely suggest where he might have gone to. I mean, we can learn a lot about Willis the person, but not where he is right now."

Tai nodded as he climbed up the stairs after Izzy, with Agumon at his heels. "Well, keep looking. I'll join you in a minute. We just have something to check out."

By the time Tai got to the upper room, Izzy was already at the window, looking at the devastated neighborhood. "See anything?"

Izzy turned to Tai. "What do you think?"

Tai and Agumon looked out the window as well, and Tai narrowed his eyes. In his mind, he tried to picture the battle, where each fighter would be, how the shots had been fired, the angles of the projectiles…

"There." Agumon pointed to a spot about half a block down. "That spot seems to be the most damaged. Craters everywhere. Typical of a Diaboromon web wrecker as well. It was as if they were concentrating their fire." The large, smooth-sided craters had the distinct signature of a web wrecker.

Izzy nodded. "Look at where those bullet marks we saw appear as well."

Tai looked, and frowned. "They seem to be fairly spread out, all coming from a central source, and the angle of the shots seems to be…" he pointed back to the spot. "coming from there, where the web wreckers seem to be concentrated." He looked closer. "And where the bullet marks appear, there seems to be a corresponding black smudge mark as well."

"So that means, a group of Diaboromon were fighting one single entity, an entity with the capability to crank out devastating streams of armour-piercing slugs. The black smudge marks are probably leftovers from the dissolved data of defeated Diaboromon." Izzy summarized.

Tai sucked in his breath. Defeated Diaboromon. Deleted data. So that was where he had seen that mark before, too many times it seemed. He scanned the scene again, trying to get a general sense of what had happened. The bullet marks seemed to be everywhere, and he counted at least 10 black smudges.

"No way it could've been human then." Tai said slowly. "Whatever it was, it was a really powerful digimon to have been able to take down so many Diaboromon single-handedly." He shook his head uneasily. "Where in the world did it come from? Is it on our side?"

Both boys looked at each other for a moment. "Do you think Willis is a digidestined?" Tentomon finally ventured.

No one could answer that question. Tai glanced out the window again. The last, red rays of sunlight glimmered briefly off his hazel eyes, and then the sun set. All of a sudden, the entire place seemed colder, more hostile somehow without the warm, friendly glow of the sun. He shivered. "I don't know, Tentomon. I don't know…"

**Author's notes: like? Hate? Remember, if you read this, REVIEW!!!!! I luv reviews, and they keep me going, so if you want me to continue, remember to REVIEW!!!!!!!


	2. Default Chapter Title

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The Long Winter: Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. This fic was produced purely for entertainment purposes, and I promise not to sell it. So there. Don't sue me.

**Author's notes: Well, if you don't like Takari, or hate TK's guts, then bear with me. Rabid Takari and TK lovers (like me), what are you waiting for? Read on!

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It was about two or three hours before dawn. The snow had long since stopped falling, and a deceptively tranquil silence blanketed the ruined streets of Tokyo. The moon slipped in and out from behind clouds, casting its silvery light on the scene.

A small boy slipped soundlessly like a wraith through it all. Keeping to the shadows, he walked with his long staff tapping the ground, its padded end testing the ground silently. His sharp blue eyes constantly scanned back and forth, alert for danger, as he padded silently along the edge of the road, his frozen breath streaming out behind him.

TK grimaced as he shifted the heavy weight of the bag on his back. The pickings that night had been good, and he had found a cache of canned food that none of the gangs had gotten to yet. He had also found water, and other supplies, like weapons and useful tools were also stuffed into the large rucksack. After carrying it all night, his back muscles screamed at him to stop.

Patamon noticed. "Do you want to take a break?" the small digimon whispered into his ear.

TK shook his head. "We're almost home, just a couple blocks more. I'll take my break there."

Patamon fell silent, then clutched his paws around his body and shivered violently. TK turned his head worriedly. "Patamon? You OK?"

Patamon smiled through clenched teeth. "You're the one with the coat, and you're still freezing. Imagine what it must be like for me."

TK patted the little digimon with his gloved hand gently, then pulled off his woolen cap with his other. "Here. It's not a coat, but it's better than nothing." The moonlight caught his golden blond hair, setting it glowing with a soft, silvery colour.

** author's note: this is not TK's usual hat, but a black winter one that he put on for the weather.

"Thanks TK." Patamon crawled into the hat that TK held out to him, and the boy cradled him to his chest to keep him warmer. "Much better..."

TK giggled softly. "Has anyone ever told you how cute you look stuffed into a winter cap?"

Patamon glared at him with mock indignation. "Hey, just because you're ten times bigger than me doesn't mean I'm some baby to be played around with."

TK grinned down at his digimon. "Don't worry. I won't tell any of the others. I promise."

Patamon opened his mouth to respond, when he stopped. Looking around he whispered urgently. "TK...look."

TK looked up, all traces of a smile wiped off his face within an instant.

Three shadows had emerged from the darkness all around them, and were approaching the small boy and his digimon. As they stepped into the moonlight, it became apparent that they were humans. _Damn, a gang._ TK thought irritably. _I don't have time for this._

Then his gaze turned sympathetic as he looked them over. All three of them were drastically underdressed for the weather, their clothes worn, and dirty. They looked gaunt, pale, and there was a haunted look in their eyes as they looked nervously up and down the street. All three of them were carrying weapons of some sort though, from knives to heavy lead pipes.

The lead man stopped in front of TK. "What've you got in that big bag, little fella?"

"None of your business."

The man pretended to look hurt for a moment, then his eyes hardened. "Give it to us."

TK stared back coolly. "I'm sorry, but this is for my friends and me. I'd be happy to share with you..."

"Give us the bag. All of it."

TK stopped. He could tell the man was desparate. There were no hints at joking around, no leadup. Just "give me the bag". The man stepped forward, threateningly.

"Kid. Give us the bag, and we won't hurt you. I don't have time for this." _We're all in a hurry nowadays, aren't we,_ TK thought sadly.

At that, the other two men began to circle the ten-year-old boy threateningly, until he had been completely surrounded. There was no escape now. TK tracked them with his peripheral vision, but his gaze remained locked with the man in front of him. "And if I don't?"

"We'll kill you. I'm sorry kid, but that's the way things go. In these times, you've got to do what it takes to survive."

Patamon whispered into TK's ear. "I'd help you beat them off, but then..."

TK nodded. "I know. I'll have to do this myself." If Patamon digivolved or attacked, Diaboromon would instantly be able to track them. This close to their hideout, they had to avoid attracting attention at all costs.

"Don't worry TK. Just remember what I taught you." Patamon winked. "Hey, you had a great sensei." The digimon flew off the boy's shoulder and perched on a nearby lamp post to watch.

TK brought up his long walking staff, and held it like a bo. Crouching, he took the pack off his back and coiled his body into a spring, the staff in a defensive posture which could shift to offensive in a flash. Throughout the past 5 months, Patamon had taught TK the basics in defending oneself with a staff, drawing on Angemon's expertise. It had seemed a sensible thing to do, seeing as they were in the middle of a war. 

"I can't give you this bag. I foraged all night for it, and it's for my friends and me. I could give you some of it, but not all of it"

The men stood silently for a moment. TK held his breath, would his offer be taken? Then the lead man nodded his head once to someone behind TK. The gang member behind him unsheathed a long knife and pounced forward, intent on running the boy through. _Too greedy._ TK thought sadly. _Why won't you just take the offer?_

Without looking, the seemingly helpless 10-year-old casually turned, and as the man stumbled past, whacked him on the back of the head. Spinning the staff skillfully, he brought the staff's other end skimming along the ground, and caught the man's ankle. The man flipped once in midair, and fell onto the ground with a crunch. Even before he had hit the ground, TK's staff was already back up into the ready position, and the boy fluidly turned to meet the next threat.

The next man came in swinging wildly with a lead pipe. Backing off, the boy parried each swipe deftly, avoiding drawn out strength battles, since the man would be sure to win. Withdrawing his staff after each parry, he prevented the enemy from using his own strength against him.

Suddenly, the two weapons met and locked for an instant. The man grinned. He was much stronger than the boy, and all of TK's skill wouldn't help him if it came down to a match of strength.

An instant later, his grin turned to confusion as the boy effortlessly slid his staff along his own in a shower of sparks, shoving his lead pipe out of the way. An instant after that, he doubled over in agony as TK planted his knee hard into his groin. He keeled over, helped by the end of TK's staff. Hitting the ground hard, he didn't get back up again.

The leader, seeing his two lackeys effortlessly defeated by this seemingly helpless boy, snarled. Reaching into his coat, he pulled out a small handgun. Patamon saw the gun, and yelled out a warning. "TK, he's got a gun!"

The blond boy turned. Seeing the gun, he quickly shifted his grip on his staff until he was holding it by one end. He drew back his arm, and threw it hard. The spinning staff flashed in the moonlight as it whizzed across the air, humming viciously. The leader, fiddling with the safety on his gun, didn't even see what hit him as the hard bo smashed into his head. Falling like a sack of potatoes, the gun clattered harmlessly to the ground, even as the staff spun off into the darkness.

The 10-year-old boy looked in amazement at the three adults he had just knocked out. The whole thing had taken less than 10 seconds. "Patamon, you're a better teacher than I thought!"

"Yeah well, obviously not good enough." Patamon seemed annoyed as he flew down from his perch on the lamp post. "Come on TK, I've seen you swing harder at flies! What happened? You could strike harder than that."

TK didn't answer right away. Heaving the bag back on, he retrieved his staff, and stuck it behind his shoulder, held between his back and the bag. Grabbing one of the men by the armpits, he dragged him along the ground to the side of the road, towards shelter. "Why would I want to hit them hard? You know if I'd gone all out I would've killed them."

Patamon frowned. "TK, a second ago, they would have killed _you_ without a second thought."

The blond boy sighed, and his breath came out in a frozen cloud of vapour, glistening brightly in the moonlight. "Patamon, they were just scared and hungry. Why would I want to kill them? Life is precious, even in these times."

The little digimon looked at his human partner with a newfound respect. "You really believe that? Even in the middle of this war?"

TK nodded firmly as he took hold of another man and began dragging him towards his unconscious friend. "Yes, I do." _As holder of the crest of hope, I could hardly do less._ The man's body carved furrows in the light layer of snow as TK dragged him across the ground.

When all three men had been put in a more or less comfortable position, or as comfortable as could be lying on their backs in snow, TK straightened up. Looking down at them, his blue eyes softened again. _What have we become? Have we really been reduced back to our survival instincts? Has the world forgotten compassion and love, and all that other stuff?_

Sighing, the young boy put down his bag. Reaching into it, he pulled out a few cans and odd supplies, and placed them onto the snowy ground beside the fallen men. Patamon frowned again. "TK, what are you doing?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

The digimon was silent for a few moments, and didn't speak until TK had zipped up the bag, and set off on his way again. "You know, that innocence and kindness of yours is going get you in trouble some day."

TK blew out a breath, and watched the crystals flicker in front of his face. "Perhaps. But I won't become a cold, inhuman monster, ready to kill at a whim." His eyes flashed. _Diaboromon may take away everything from me, my friends, my family, even my life, but he won't take away my humanity. I won't let him._

"Come on. Let's go home." Turning, the blond boy strode off towards the camp.

Patamon was silent again for a few moments as he flapped beside his master. 

"TK?"

"Hmm?"

Patamon grinned. "I'm proud to have you as my friend."

** New York **

Tai sat outside the house, staring at the rising sun in the East. The golden orb was just beginning to creep over the horizon, bringing warmth to the frozen wasteland, and he felt he needed a time out before the day started. Agumon sat beside his friend, trying to offer what comfort he could. As the first golden rays began to shine, Tai lost himself in the sunrise.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Izzy sat down beside his friend, looking at the sun as well.

Tai sighed. "It's beautiful isn't it?"

Agumon looked at him skeptically. "Come on Tai, don't lie to people about your thoughts. It's not nice. I know you better than that. There's something troubling you."

Tai laughed. "Yeah, I suppose you do." Then he quieted down. "Truth is, I'm thinking about Kari."

Izzy sighed. They had been over this. "Tai, Kari's a strong girl. She's also a destined. She can take care of herself, and Gatomon's there with her. She's fine."

Tai looked haunted, and for the first time, Izzy saw fear in their leader's eyes. Fear not for himself, but for his sister. He had been allowed a glimpse of Tai's true self, the self he constantly kept hidden to encourage the others. "Izzy, you don't understand. Kari's too young to be caught in this war. She doesn't understand it yet. How can I know she's all right. How can I protect her, when I don't even know where she is? At least back in the digiworld, I knew she was safe because she was right there beside me. Now…I don't even know if she's still…alive." Tai choked on the last word.

Izzy put an arm around Tai's shoulders. "Tai, trust in your sister. She's stronger than you think. Kari's a remarkable girl. I don't believe I've ever seen someone more compassionate than her, but she's also one of the toughest and most stubborn people I know." He smiled. "Much like her brother. She may be small, but she can fend for herself if need be. We'll find her Tai, sooner or later."

Tai smiled gratefully at the boy beside him. "Thanks Izzy."

"No problem. Come on, let's go wake the others up." Izzy got up and walked back to the house, then turned around guiltily. "Well, I suppose I owe you a penny, but then, I'm kind of broke right now…"

Tai laughed. "Forget the penny. You can pay me back when this is all over." Joining Izzy, they walked back to the house, and stepped in the door. Agumon hurried after both of them. "What's a penny?"

"Mimi, Mimi! Come on, wake up! It's time to go." Sora was shaking Mimi's shoulder, trying to shift the girl off the couch.

"Scram!" she snarled as she snuggled deeper into the warm sofa.

Sora stifled a giggle. "Come on Mimi. We've got to keep looking for Willis. Or have you forgotten him already?"

Mimi turned over and put a pillow over her ears. "Can't I sleep just a little longer? It's been the first time in _5 months_ I've slept on anything this soft!!"

"No." Tai said firmly. "We have to go now. We've stayed here too long as it is."

Izzy nodded. "It's never a good idea to stay in one place too long if you're being hunted. We have to keep moving."

Mimi sat up reluctantly, rubbing at her sleepy eyes. "Kay, OK! I'm up. So how do you propose we look for Willis?"

"Well, since we suspect he's a destined, we could just look around New York with our digivices. You know, kind of like what we did for the eighth child." Sora suggested.

Mimi looked dismayed. "Do you have any idea how large this city is? It could take weeks to find him. That's assuming he's still alive."

A short silence fell over the group for a moment. If Willis had indeed been killed, then all hope was lost.

Tai sighed. "Well, I for one, don't have any better ideas. We didn't find anything that might tell us where he might have went, so the best place to start looking would be here in New York."

Tai looked out the window at the sun creeping over the horizon. The broken cityscape loomed in the distance. "We'd cover more ground if we split up, but then, we'd need some way to stay in contact at the same time." He turned to Izzy. "Do you think you can rig up some kind of signaling device with our digivices? If we find something, we'll need some way of letting the others know."

Izzy nodded. "That's easy. It would be a simple matter to program them to send out a signal to all other digivices in range."

Tai took his digivice and gave it to Izzy, motioning for the others to do the same. "Right. Do it."

Izzy accepted the digivices, stuck them into the slot on his laptop, and began typing furiously. In a few minutes, all the digivices were programmed, and he handed them back to their owners. "If you find anything, all you have to do is to punch this button here." He showed them the button on his own digivice. "The range should be about 20km, and any other digivices in the vicinity will pick up the signal and start beeping. We can track each other that way."

Tai accepted his digivice. "Fine. Sora's with me. You two stick together. Remember to stay together at all times, and keep your eyes peeled for patrols." He looked at the map. "We'll go check out the center of town first. If he's anywhere, he's probably there."

Sora looked at her digivice. "Tai, when we press the button, don't you think that others might be able to intercept the signal as well?"

Biyomon frowned. "Yeah, and with all other electronics down, if Diaboromon's monitoring radio transmissions, our little signals would stick out like sore thumbs. He'd be able to track us the moment we hit the button."

Tai frowned. "That's a risk we'll have to take. To be safe though, when you press the button, make sure you're a fair distance away from any patrols."

Izzy chipped in. "How 'bout this. Once you press the button, immediately move away from the area. Diaboromon will undoubtedly send troops within a couple minutes, so you'd have to move. The signal will only last for a second, but that second should be enough for the other digivices to pick up where you are. We'll converge on a spot 1 kilometer North of where the button was pushed. That way, we can avoid Diaboromon tracking us."

Tai nodded. "So even if he manages to intercept the signal, he can send all the troops he wants to where it came from, but he won't find anything there."

The auburn-haired boy closed up his laptop. "Yeah. It's not perfect, and he'll still detect the signal, but it's better than nothing. If we use it sparingly, and if we get away fast enough, we should be all right."

Tai sighed and got up. "Sounds good to me. If you find him, push the button, and we'll meet together. Don't approach him on your own. It would be better to do it together." The others got to their feet as well. Tai looked around. "I think it goes without saying to be careful."

Mimi rolled her eyes. "Tai, we've been at war for _5 months_! We can take care of ourselves."

Tai turned away, and strode out the door. "Right…"

** Tokyo **

Kari waited outside the shelter anxiously, a small object clenched in her hand. Gatomon perched on her shoulder, hugging herself to keep warm. The sky was beginning to turn light gray near the horizon. _Dawn will be arriving soon,_ she thought. Looking up and down the streets, she waited for one familiar figure to appear.

The snow had started up again, and soft, white flakes drifted downwards from the sky. Kari watched them dreamily, following their lazy, tranquil paths, down from the sky, drifting on the wind…and onto the rubble of the streets below.

The girl closed her eyes in despair. _Is there no escape, not even for a moment?_ Self-consciously, she touched the scar on her left stomach. The reminders of the war were everywhere. No matter where one looked, Diaboromon's wrath had touched and corrupted everything. The quiet, peaceful snow was contrasted cruelly with the ruins of Tokyo. She sighed and scanned the streets again. _I mustn't lose hope, just like him…_

Then, she saw him. His small, slim figure was stooped under the weight of the large bag on his back, and the trusty walking staff tapped the ground rhythmically. The morning light gleamed off his golden hair, and his tired blue eyes widened in surprise at seeing her outside.

"Kari? What are you doing out here?"

"Waiting for you silly, you've been out all night." She looked the boy over. He seemed bone tired and cold, but otherwise all right. But something was missing. "Where's Patamon?"

Then, she noticed that TK was carrying his hat clutched to his chest. The black, woolen cap seemed to be filled with something. Then it stirred, and a small nose poked out. "Are we there yet?"

Kari put a hand over her mouth and giggled. "Patamon, do you know how cute you look in that thing?"

TK grinned at her, then looked down at his digimon. "We should take a picture. That way we can blackmail him into doing chores for us."

Patamon stuck out his lower lip in a mock pout. "Hey, you promised not to tell."

"Yeah, sorry pal. Just a joke. Come on, let's go inside." Leading the way, he padded into the building. It was old, and draughty, but it was home. Kari followed him in.

Inside, TK gratefully put down the bag, and took off his gloves. The welcome warmth seeped into his tired body, and he closed his eyes. After an entire night out in the cold, it always felt good coming back into the warmth.

"Um…TK?"

"Hmm?"

"Merry Christmas."

"Christmas?" The blond boy smiled at the irony of it all as he shed his coat. _Christmas, the season of perpetual hope_. "I almost forgot about that…. I suppose I shouldn't. Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to you as well."

"Well…"

TK turned to Kari. "What is it?"

Kari stared at her feet, as if the ground had suddenly become very interesting. Gatomon jumped off her shoulder, and landed on the ground lightly. TK looked concernedly at her. "Kari? Is something wrong?"

Kari shuffled her feet nervously. Gatomon, who was beside her, snorted. TK and Patamon turned their gazes towards the cat-like digimon. "What she's trying to say is that she's made something for you, and she's too shy to tell you outright."

An abashed look spread over TK's face as he turned back to the girl. "Really? I'm sorry, I didn't get you anything at all."

"I don't think she was really expecting anything in return, TK." Gatomon said gently.

Wordlessly, Kari let the object dangle from her hand as she handed it over to TK. Her gaze remained fixed on a point on the floor, though her face was rapidly turning bright red. TK took the object, and a gentle smile spread over his handsome face. "Oh Kari…"

It was a pendant made of glass. Cut perfectly, the edges had been sanded down until they were no longer sharp. The entire thing had been polished until it gleamed, and a small hole had been punched near the top to which a loop of string was attached. Painstakingly carved onto it was the crest of hope. The intricate facets of glass seemed to catch the light around it, refracting it into a dozen different colours.

"I just thought it would be an appropriate Christmas present. You know, the season of hope. It's your season, TK." Kari mumbled, still looking down at her feet. "It's not much, I know. I wish I could've gotten you something better…"

All of a sudden, she felt a pair of strong arms encircle her. Startled, she found herself in Takeru's warm embrace. "Kari…you shouldn't have. This must've taken you weeks to carve. I don't deserve it." TK murmured as he hugged the brown-haired girl tightly. Kari snuggled up against him, reveling in his gentle touch. "It's beautiful. This is the best Christmas present anyone's ever given me. Thanks a lot…"

Kari was stunned. _He's hugging me!_ She had always been admiring TK from a distance, but had never thought that he would be interested in pursuing anything beyond a simple friendship. _I'm not the right girl for him_, she thought. _He's perfect, gentle and compassionate. He deserves better than me…_

Then she relaxed. She couldn't help it. She just felt so safe, so peaceful…

Kari embraced the boy back. "No, you deserve it TK. I still haven't said thanks for staying back to protect me when I was hurt. This is just my little way of saying thank you…"

Suddenly, on impulse, she stood on her tiptoes, and kissed TK lightly on the cheek. Then, she broke away from the embrace, and all but ran from the room, her face flushing a crimson colour. Gatomon snickered, and ran after her master. "Kari and TK, sitting in a tree. K, I, S, S, I…"

__

Smack. "Ow!"

TK was left holding the pendant with one hand. The other held the cheek Kari had just kissed. He had a slightly stunned expression on his face, and his blue eyes were a little unfocused. A small, smile hovered on his lips. Patamon looked back and forth from his master and the door and giggled.

"I think she likes you…"

**Author's notes: Yeah, I know, TK's a little out of character (OK, very out of character), but I can't help myself. TK's my hero! As always, remember to REVIEW!!!!!!


	3. Default Chapter Title

****

The Long Winter: Chapter 3

** Disclaimer: I don't own digimon, never will. Just did this for fun, and I promise not to sell it. So there.

** Author's notes: OK, now that that's over with. For those of you who've been asking, yes, Willis finally does appear in this fic. I've noticed that there are some authors out there who've been putting up "lonely author laments", so I'm going to do one myself. _Where's everyone gone?_ Especially you Kale. Why have you stopped writing? I _loved_ your fics. Faith of my Fathers was a masterpiece. Keep writing!!

Again, this fic was edited by Tiger Shark, or TS. I wouldn't feel right if I didn't give her at least some of the credit, since there's no way I could've done this without her. Now, on with the story…

** one week later **

"Tai, wait up!" Agumon panted as he tried to keep up with their energetic leader. The digimon's frozen breath trailed out in a stream behind him as he struggled along the broken street. Sora and Biyomon didn't even have the breath to call out.

Tai stopped, turned around, and tapped his foot impatiently against the snowy ground. "Come on, guys, if we keep on taking breaks like that, we'll never find him."

"Keep on taking breaks like that? What are you talking about?" Agumon cried. "Tai, we haven't stopped since daybreak! Give us a rest! Not all of us are hyperactive like you!" Biyomon walked up to join them, then collapsed on her front.

Tai looked around at the exhausted group, and relented. "Fine, we'll take a short break. Five minutes, no more!"

Sora took off her backpack, and slumped onto her haunches gratefully. Taking off her gloves, she blew into her numb hands, trying to warm them up. Looking around, she saw their digimon were both lying sprawled on the ground exhausted, oblivious of the light layer of old snow that coated it.

They had been searching for a week, wandering throughout the city in a loose grid pattern, trying to pick up a signal on their digivices. Picking their way around the snow-covered ruins of the once proud city had depressed them all, but they had pushed on. They had to find Willis, as soon as possible. Every moment they wasted, the trail became that much colder.

She looked up. Tai was still pacing around, as if he was still rearing to go. She knew he was tired. She could tell by the dark bags under his eyes, the slightly laboured breathing, the pale face, yet he wouldn't stop pushing himself as hard. "Tai, take it easy! Pushing yourself so hard isn't going to help us if you collapse."

Tai sat down reluctantly, and began fiddling with his fingers. "I'm sorry. I just can't seem to stop. I guess I'm just a little hyper."

"I'm beginning to wonder if we're ever going to find him." Biyomon muttered.

Tai leaned back, resting against a building, rubbing his hands together to warm them. "Come on guys, what'd you expect? New York is one of the biggest cities in America, and with communications down, transportation gone, in the middle of winter, and Diaboromon monitoring everything, don't you think it's a little unrealistic that we can find him so soon?" He smiled at the group trying to reassure them. "Don't worry. We'll find him, sooner or later."

Sora nodded back, and Tai gazed up at the gray sky. Despite his words, his eyes were worried. As leader, he had to put on a brave face to encourage his troops. He had learned a long time ago that he had to reassure the others by taking everything onto himself.

The truth was, they didn't even know if Willis was alive or not. They had already searched the central sections of town, the waterfront, the eastern section of town, and had come up with nothing. With patrols everywhere, and with the time and manpower they had, they couldn't afford to conduct a really thorough search. Relying on their digivices only, all they had done was wander blindly through the frozen streets, hoping to pick up a signal, but so far, nothing. They didn't even have conclusive proof that Willis was a destined, and so they had no guarantee that he would trigger their digivices anyway.

He looked up and down the streets, and checked his digivice for the thousandth time that day, the millionth time that week. It was frustrating. _If he didn't have a digivice, we could pass within meters of him, and not notice. How the hell are we going to find one little boy in the middle of all this chaos?_ Tai bit his lip. _Is he even alive?_

Then he shook his head furiously. He had to be alive. They didn't waste 5 months travelling to New York just to find out that humanity's last hope had died. _It can't happen, it won't happen_, he thought firmly to himself. _It had better not happen…_

Looking at his watch, he stood up. "Come on guys, break's over. Let's go."

Sora groaned, but got up without complaint. The digimon as well levered themselves painfully onto their feet. Sora sighed. "Let's go then." Heaving her backpack onto her shoulders and putting on her gloves, she trudged off.

Tai followed them. "How do you think Izzy and Mimi's doing?" The two other digidestined were about 5 km east, scanning their section of the city.

Sora looked up at the cloud-covered sky. "Let's hope they're having better luck than we are."

Tai took out his digivice, almost willing it to pick up a signal. Shaking it, he glared stubbornly at the screen. "Willis, dammit, you'd better be a destined, or…or I'll kill you," he finished lamely to no-one in particular.

Sora sighed. "Come on Tai, I really don't think that's going to help."

"I know, but it makes me feel better." Tai responded, as he shook his digivice again. "Come on, you worthless piece of techno-crap, tell us where he is."

Sora shook her head, and padded after their digimon, who had taken the lead. "We're just wasting time. Let's go for another 5 blocks, then we'll turn north…"

__

Beep beep beep…

Sora's eyes widened. "Tai, what's that?"

Tai was looking at his digivice with a stunned expression on his face. The screen was glowing, and a small dot appeared, to the top left corner. Turning in that direction, he saw the dot move to the top center of the screen. Sora stared in amazement, then hurriedly took out her own digivice. Same thing.

"I don't believe it…" Tai murmured softly. "I've got a signal."

This time, it was Sora's turn to shake her digivice, to make sure it was working properly. The same dot still flashed on the screen. A huge grin broke out on her face. "I'd say we've finally found something."

Tai stood still for a few moments, amazed at their luck, then he snapped out of it. "Right." Pushing the alert button on his digivice, he sent the coded signal to the others, allowing Izzy and Mimi to pick up on their location. Grabbing Sora's arm, he began walking due North. "We'd best get out of here. A patrol will probably pass by in a few minutes, and we have to meet with Izzy and the others anyway."

Sora nodded, and began following. There wasn't a hint of exhaustion in their stride as they walked. Instead, they suddenly seemed charged with a new purpose and energy. The two children, and their digimon ran through the deserted streets, heading north.

"There you are!" Izzy exclaimed half an hour later, as he and Mimi broke into a run. Skidding to a stop in front of Tai, he looked excited, exuberant. _Finally, at long last, a signal._ Holding up his digivice, he showed their leader the signal he had picked up a minute ago. "You getting this too?"

Tai nodded, and showed them his own digivice. "Izzy, do you think you can show us a picture of Willis again, just so we can recognize him when we see him?" 

Izzy nodded, and pulled the computer off his back. Opening it, he punched a few buttons, then turned it around to show the others. "Here he is."

Tai took a look at the picture, then turned his gaze back to his digivice. The signal was still as strong as ever. Turning, he began striding towards the phantom digivice, tracking the dot on his screen. "Come on. We didn't come this far just to lose him now."

The rest of the gang followed eagerly. After a week of fruitless searching, they were almost there. Tai followed the signal, his eyes glued to the screen. The others kept a constant lookout for danger, scanning their flanks and back constantly. It was an instinct ingrained into them by the war. Even this close to their target, it wouldn't do to get careless.

__

In another section of town, a couple km North West, a small boy leaped to his feet, alarmed by what he saw on the screen.

"What's wrong?" his digimon inquired. The little rookie looked like a small dog with huge ears.

The blond boy didn't answer right away. His fingers clenched tightly around the funny-looking device he held in his hand. "The dots…they're coming towards us."

The small digimon frowned. "Then don't you think we should be on our way? There' s no telling what those dots represent. In these times, it's better to be safe than sorry."

The boy was already packing what few possessions he had left in the world. Stuffing them into a small backpack, he packed up his laptop, and stuffed it into the bag along with a few cans of food and water. He looked around at the small shelter, his green eyes roving around his home for the past 2 weeks. Hastily, he checked to see if he had left anything that might indicate where he might be going.

He turned to his digimon. "Let's go." Boy and digimon bounded out onto the streets, and began running due West.

Tai frowned. "He's moving. Seems like he's on foot." He looked at the others. "You guys getting this as well?"

Sora glanced at her own digivice. "Yeah, but he seems rather worried. Look at the way he keeps changing directions. It's as if he doesn't know where to go."

Mimi snorted. "What would you do? Remember, since we can pick up his signal, he can pick up ours. Also, when Tai sent that alert signal, he must've gotten it as well. His digivice probably started beeping and flashing like crazy. I'd be scared too."

Izzy frowned. "That's not good. If he's scared and confused, that could complicate things a lot."

Tai broke into a jog, and the others followed. He gritted his teeth. _We didn't track you for five friggin' months just to lose you now._

"Uh, Tai, he's starting to move west." Izzy said behind him. "Pretty fast too."

Tai glanced at his digivice to confirm it. The dot was indeed moving west, and at a fair clip. _He's running from us_, he thought. Then an idea struck him. "Izzy, Mimi, take our digivices." He handed his digivice to Izzy and motioned for Sora to do the same. "As long as he has our digivices on-screen, he can track us, just like we can track him."

Pulling out a map, he took out a pen and began scratching on it hastily with his mitten-clad hands. "Here's the plan. Since you guys will be holding all four of the digivices, he'll think that all of us will still be together" 

He looked at Izzy to make sure he understood. "Herd him due east, so he can't escape into the country. He'll eventually come up against the sea, we'll trap him there. Sora and I will take this shortcut," Tai made a mark on the map, "and try to intercept him. He won't know we're coming since he can't track us."

Mimi quickly pointed out a potential problem. "But Tai, you won't be able to track him either. Without your digivices, you'll essentially be searching for him blind. If we don't manage to herd him properly, you'll miss him by a mile. Literally."

Tai flashed her a quick smile. "Hey, we're a team. We can do this. All it takes is a lot of coordination and a bit of luck." His eyes turned serious. "Guys, we can't mess this up. You've got to herd him properly. I suggest you two split up to prevent him from outflanking you. Sora and I will be waiting here," Tai scratched a circle on the map, "so make sure he comes our way. Exactly how to herd him, I'll leave that up to you."

Spinning around, he motioned Sora to follow, and the two children sprinted out onto the street. "If we don't manage to find each other, meet back here by sundown!" Tai yelled back over his shoulder, as he and Sora disappeared around the bend.

Izzy turned to Mimi, and tossed her Sora's digivice. Mimi caught it deftly. "Here take this, and head up this street", he pointed at the map. "Try to herd him along Main street, and the surrounding blocks. I'll be over here, due north of your position. You cover the south side." He grabbed his laptop, and looked at Mimi. "Got that?"

The girl nodded back fiercely. "Come on Palmon." Together, the girl and her digimon ran out onto the street, and moved towards their assigned positions.

Izzy was slightly amazed at how well the group had coordinated in such a short time. "Wow," he muttered under his breath. Tentomon buzzed alongside him as the auburn-haired boy began running due north. "When did we get so well-coordinated?"

Tentomon looked at his master strangely as he ran. "Ever since this war began, in case you haven't noticed."

Tai's breath burned in his throat as he ran along the street to the ambush position. Each breath of ice-cold air he took stung his throat and lungs. Sora and he were both athletes, and had played a lot of soccer, but they were sprinting rather hard as well. The bitter cold burned his cheeks and nose, and he noticed that Sora's face also looked rather red. He shifted uncomfortably in his jacket, wishing he could take it off. Despite the weather, he was sweating like crazy.

Not having digivices, they had no idea where the others were. It was as if they had suddenly gone blind. He hated it, the feeling of not knowing what was going on. "Sora, remind me to get a couple walkie-talkies after we find this guy."

Sora chuckled between gasps for breath. "I sympathize." Agumon and Biyomon tried hard to keep up with their longer-legged human counterparts.

Sprinting all of the way, the two destined managed to make it to the ambush point within a few minutes. Panting hard, his frozen breath coming out in clouds, Tai scanned the area. This would do.

Nodding with his head, he motioned towards a large garbage dumpster on the far side of the road. Sora understood immediately, jogged over to the dumpster, and hunkered down behind it. She flashed Tai a thumbs up sign. She had that side of the road covered.

Tai nodded back, and hid inside a doorway. Agumon crouched at his side, ready to digivolve at the slightest hint of trouble. Crouching down onto his haunches, Tai forced his fidgeting to stop.

There was nothing for it but to wait now, and trust that Izzy and Mimi managed to herd Willis in their direction. Tai refused to think about what would happen if they didn't. They would miss Willis by a mile, and their chance to find him would be gone, maybe forever.

__

But that won't happen, he thought to himself confidently. Izzy and Mimi were both competent digidestined. Given the simplest of orders, they could still be expected to do the job properly. In fact, he had found that it was best to let them come up with their own methods of working. Imposing too many orders on them usually turned out to be counterproductive.

Tai looked up the street, willing for Willis to appear. _Izzy and Mimi can do it. I know they can._

Izzy panted as he tracked the glowing dot flashing on his screen. Tentomon buzzed beside him as the boy sprinted down the streets, jumping over obstacles, and avoiding rubble and debris piles. The bitter cold air whipped by the boy's face and made his eyes tear, but he kept running anyway.

To the south, Mimi was holding her side well. Willis had been forced to turn back East after having been cut off by her. Now, he was attempting a break to the North. He had apparently caught onto their attempt to herd him, and was trying to break out. Izzy watched as the dot moved further and further north, trying to outflank him.

Izzy had to admit that Willis was pretty good. _But then, if he's a destined, he's got to be good. _He had caught onto their little herding game a little too soon, and had forced their hand. Now, he was desperately trying to break free, to head back inland, since he knew he was being herded against the sea, but Izzy and Mimi kept up the pressure on their respective ends, allowing him no escape.

The boy gritted his teeth as he put on an extra burst of speed. _You're not going to get past me_, he thought to himself. Suddenly Tentomon tugged on his sleeve.

"Izzy, there's an alleyway up ahead. If we go through it, we could cut him off sooner." The streets of New York were arranged in a grid pattern, and the alleyway would allow them go right through a block, the perfect shortcut.

Izzy nodded. "Let's do it." Changing direction smoothly in midstride, he leaped over a small patch of ice, and sprinted down the dark alleyway. Jumping and avoiding debris and garbage, slipping and sliding on ice patches, he ran down the alley as fast as he could. The change in direction drastically closed the distance between the two, and Izzy's eyes were glued to the screen, even as he ran. The two dots representing himself and Willis drew closer and closer together. What would his response be?

Finally, Willis reluctantly cut back, hemmed in by Izzy. The auburn-haired boy breathed a sigh of relief, but kept on running, keeping up the pressure on his end. Now Willis was turning back south, trying to break past Mimi. _She had better be on her toes._

Then he stared in disbelief as Willis seemed to cut right through a city block. The boy had apparently found another alleyway, much like the one that Izzy now ran through. The shortcut was going to take him further than Mimi's position. _Dammit Mimi, you've got to cut him off now!!_

Swearing under his breath, Izzy changed direction again, chasing after the elusive boy, and attempting to cut off Willis' route south, but the auburn-haired boy was helpless. He was to the north, and there was no way he could cut Willis off in time. It was all up to Mimi, and she wasn't going to make it.

Tentomon looked at the digivice. "Izzy, look!"

Izzy looked at the screen again, and blinked in confusion. "What's going on?"

The dot representing Mimi had suddenly split into two, and now both dots were spreading out into a net, cutting off Willis' escape route. "How can she do that?"

"She's got two digivices! Her own, and Sora's! She must've given one to Palmon, and they must've split up to cover more ground!" Tentomon crowed exultantly.

Izzy was impressed. "Well done Mimi…" he murmured. Then he cut back in another direction. Tossing Tai's digivice to Tentomon, he began running due East again. "Let's do the same thing. You head South East, and prevent him from backtracking on us. Come on, we've almost got him now. Just the final stretch left…"

As he ran, Izzy breathed a silent prayer. _Tai, you had better be in position, because like it or not, he's coming your way._ They were all running on blind coordination. If even one of them messed up in the slightest, the entire intricate plan would fall through.

__

This waiting is driving me nuts…Tai thought. He had been in position for a few minutes at most, and already he was beginning to get jumpy. _Where is he? Did Izzy and Mimi get him? Has he passed us already?_

He looked over at Sora, who was similarly crouched and hidden. Biyomon was beside her, ready to confront Willis, should be appear. He turned his gaze back up the empty street, straining his senses for any sign… anything that he might be coming. _Where is he…_The street was dead silent. A slight wind ruffled up the debris and dust on the ground. _Where is he…_

Suddenly, his ears picked up a panting sound echoing in the otherwise silent street. His heart skipped a beat, then he hunkered down even more, and put a hand on Agumon, "Buddy, better get ready…"

The sound continued, growing. It sounded like someone running, their footsteps crunching the snow, and getting closer. Tai risked a glance around the doorway. There was someone approaching all right. He could see a small figure in the distance. Ducking back into the doorway, he squeezed his eyes shut, shutting off all other senses to concentrate on listening to the sound. They had to surprise him, so he wouldn't have a chance of running away…

The sound got louder. Now Tai could hear the muffled footsteps on the snowy ground. Two pairs of distinct footsteps, one heavier one, and an extremely light one, as if its owner weighed no more than a couple pounds. _Must be his digimon,_ Tai thought to himself.

Opening his eyes, he looked over at Sora. Pulling off a glove with his teeth, he held up three fingers. Sora nodded. Tai slowly pulled down one finger, starting the countdown. _Three…two…one…_both of them stood up at the same time, and stepped out onto the street, blocking the path.

A small boy skidded to a stop in front of them. He had light blond hair, bright green eyes, and a small laptop was strapped to his back. He panted for breath as he stared, wide-eyed with fear at the two strangers that now blocked his path. 

__

So this is the kid we've been looking for all this time. Tai thought to himself. _Certainly doesn't look too impressive…_ But then, he reminded himself, he was just a clueless eleven-year-old himself when he had first been sucked into the digital world. Agumon looked down. A small, rookie-level digimon with ridiculously large ears was at his feet. Tai extended his hand. "We need to talk."

The boy said nothing, but began backing away slowly. His eyes and face were filled with a nervous fear, a terror and suspicion of everything around him. Tai ached with sympathy. That could've been him, if it wasn't for the friends and comrades that stood beside him now. He could well understand the fear and terror this little boy must've been through.

Sora stepped up. "Don't worry, we won't hurt you. We just want to talk."

"Stay away from me!" Willis screamed, his voice shrill with terror. "You're with Diaboromon aren't you? What do you want with me?" 

Tai frowned. "We're humans. How can we be with Diaboromon? Do we look like digimon to you?"

Willis looked ready to bolt at any second. "You traitors are always the same." He spat the word _traitors_ contemptuously, like it was a bad taste in his mouth. "You'd sell out your own race out for a handful of food." Backing off, he tried turn back.

Four figures, 2 humans and 2 digimon, sprinting along different roads, suddenly blocked his path. Izzy and Mimi skidded to a stop as well, firmly planting themselves in his way. Suddenly, Willis was completely surrounded. He gazed around, wide-eyed, like a small animal that had been cornered. Again, Tai felt sympathetic for the little boy. _It's the war,_ he thought sadly, _Diaboromon, what have you done…_

Sora held up her hands. "Look, I'm unarmed." The others held up their hands as well, following her lead. Sora was the best person for this, so they let her take over. She kept her voice gentle, non-threatening. "I don't know what you mean by traitors, and I know you're afraid, but you've got to trust us. We're not here to hurt you. If you'll just hear us out…"

"Stay away!! All of you!" the boy screamed. Picking up on his distress, the digimon at his heels bristled. Squaring off, it stood in front of its master and began glowing slightly.

"Bunny Blast!"

Tai's eyes widened, as green arcs of energy suddenly started spiraling around the small creature. The arcs concentrated, and suddenly a devastating green beam of energy lashed out towards him…

It was only Tai's razor-sharp instincts that saved him. Honed and trained by months of the war, he desperately dived behind the doorway he had been hiding behind. The green ribbon of energy slammed into the wall, and Tai flinched as chips of concrete slashed his cheeks.

Then he stared in disbelief as the digimon turned to Sora. "Bunny Blast!" Again the blazing green beam lanced out. _No…not Sora._

Sora didn't dodge at all. She just stood there, closed her eyes, and waited for the blast. The green beam slammed into her chest, and she was blasted off her feet, flying through the air for a few meters before she finally hit the ground again. Her body carved a furrow in the layer of snow coating the street as it slid along like a broken doll.

"_Sora!_" The word was torn from Tai's throat as he ran desperately after his fallen friend. He didn't care about attacks anymore, didn't care about anything. All that mattered to him was to reach Sora's side.

Behind Tai, the blond boy hesitated. _She didn't try to dodge at all_, he thought to himself in amazement. _After seeing Terriermon's attack, she's knows what it can do. Why didn't she try to defend herself?_

Biyomon flapped into the air, her eyes filling with a murderous rage. Savior of the world or not, _nobody_ got away with hurting Sora. "Spiral twist…"

"No…don't…" Sora coughed weakly as she painfully levered herself up onto one elbow. Her other hand clutched her side tightly, and her face was deathly pale. "He's just scared…don't hurt him…"

Biyomon hesitated, her unformed attack died down. Willis looked on, even more amazed. _What's going on? Why does she want to protect me?_ He looked as the brown-haired boy finally reached her side, and knelt down to inspect her wounds with a care and compassion. Care and compassion that he hadn't seen since…he couldn't remember that far back. _Are they really out to hurt me? Is this all just a show put on to get my trust? Or do they really want to help me?_

Tai felt Sora's side gently, and she sucked in a breath of pain. Tai frowned. _She's probably got a couple of cracked ribs._ Turning angrily, he glared daggers at Willis. "What the hell's your problem? All we wanted to do was talk!"

"You don't have to be afraid of us. We're here to help you." Mimi stepped forward slowly, her arms raised to show she was unarmed. "We know you're afraid, we know the hell you've been living through, but we can help…"

Willis' instinctual fear took over again. "Don't come any closer," he warned her. Terriermon bristled again, and Mimi stopped. "You're with Diaboromon aren't you? This is all just a show to gain my trust…"

Something snapped in Tai. "_Don't you **ever** accuse us of siding with Diaboromon_. That f***ing bastard took away everything that was important to us! Our homes, our family, our friends, our lives…. Get it through your thick skull. We are sworn _against _him, and it will be a cold day in hell before we surrender to that puffed up spider made of cables!"

Willis was stunned into silence. Terriermon looked at his master questioningly. Were these really Diaboromon's servants? They didn't think like him at all. And…there was a certain something about them that drew him, something that they had in common, something that they had that seemed to make him understand and bond with them. Looking around, he gazed at their faces one by one. _Are they telling the truth? Should I trust them?_

Izzy stepped up. "Willis? It's me, Izzy. Remember me? You know, the computer geek from Japan? You've got to trust us. You're special Willis, and we need your help to defeat Diaboromon. We can't do it without you…"

Willis stared up at the auburn-haired boy. _Izzy?_ He had vague recollections of meeting someone of that name in a chatroom somewhere, a _long_ time ago. Diaboromon certainly wouldn't know a name like that. "Izzy? The "digidestined"?"

Izzy nodded. Willis began to step down. Looking down at Terriermon, he waved his hand once. Terriermon looked up. "Are you sure…"

"Let's hear them out, for now…" Terriermon nodded, and relaxed, a little. Willis turned back to the grim group before him and took a deep breath. "Ok…what do you want?"

Sora smiled through her pain. _At least he's listening_. Tai looked down at her with concern, then turned back to Willis. "We shouldn't talk here. Let's go find somewhere more secure to…"

Suddenly, a building beside them exploded. Everyone was knocked off their feet from the concussion as splinters of wood and concrete shrapnel whistled around them. Out of the smoke, an entire legion of Bakemon emerged, baring their fangs.

Willis looked in alarm at the evil digimon, then turned back to the equally stunned group beside him. _I've been tricked_, he thought bitterly. _They were just stalling for time for their friends to get here._ "Traitors!", he snarled at the group contemptuously. "I can't believe it." Turning to his digimon, he nodded fiercely, giving him the go-ahead. Terriermon leaped into the air, and a glowing green nimbus surrounded his entire body.

"Terriermon digivolve to…"

Tai, lying flat on his back, watched in amazement as the tiny digimon flashed, and digivolved. Growing larger, blue pants appeared on his legs. A green war mask covered the digimon's face, and two huge, squarish looking gauntlets appeared on his hands.

__

Oh sh*t. Now we're in for it…

"…Galgomon."

__

Elsewhere, in his dark headquarters in Tokyo, Diaboromon stirred. Something had awakened him. Spreading out his senses, he opened himself up to his network, trying to find out what it was that had disturbed him.

There. A flash of digital energy had been detected in New York, America. A digivolution was underway.

Yes. 

****

Yes!

The dark spider grinned diabolically. Finally, after five months, they had gotten careless. They had showed themselves. Sending out electronic orders via his network, he settled back to wait.

Precisely five seconds later, the troops he had stationed in New York sprang into action. On a glowing monitor, Diaboromon watched with satisfaction as his soldiers maneuvered themselves into complicated dragnet patterns and patrols, completely surrounding the city block from which the energy had come from.

The hunt was on.

** Author's notes: TaKari / TK lovers, well, I know you don't see them at all in this particular chapter, but rest assured, I haven't forgotten about them. This is an action/adventure fic, so I can't exactly focus every single moment of my fic on those two, so bear with me. For those of you who are worried that I'm falling behind with my exams, don't be. They're coming along fine. Just to calm anyone who thinks I'm neglecting my school-work because of this.

To all my loyal reviewers, thanks a lot. Kale, Fruitloop Trooper, Turquoise Cow, Kari, raine, and a whole, _whole_ bunch of other people. (Sorry if I offended you by not mentioning you. This is by no means a complete list). To those readers who've been reading but not reviewing, PLEASE REVIEW!!!!


	4. Default Chapter Title

****

The Long Winter: Chapter 4

** Disclaimer: I don't own digimon, never will. Just did this for fun, and I promise not to sell it. So there.

** Author's notes: I feel I need to clarify something. This is an action/adventure fic. Sure, I like Takari, but in a story such as this, it's just a side-theme. I can't afford to spend too much time on it, or the story will drag on forever. Takari will appear again, but don't expect too much. Perhaps after I'm finished this series I'll go ahead and write a pure Takari, focusing completely on those two. (That would be fun!) Well, for those who'd just settle on TK, he appears again in this chapter, and the chapter after this.

Another thing, for those of you who think Willis need's a reality check, well, I apologize for the Willis bashing, if that's what it came off as. I didn't mean it that way. Have some pity for the kid, he's been lost and alone, living the life of a refugee, probably witnessed people dying by the thousands in front of his eyes, for _5 months!_

Oh, and Kale… "FAITH OF MY FATHER'S" WAS WAY COOL! I'm sure you've already seen my review, so I won't talk about it too much now. But the epilogue was just soooo touching, so befitting of such a great fic. *pant…pant* you'll have to excuse me, I'm still a little in shock after reading it, so I might sound a little hyper.

Well, on with my own (and suddenly seemingly terrible in comparison) story…

The savage winter storm howled through the empty streets of Tokyo. The sky was a miserable gray black, bleak and hopeless. Snowdrifts piled up everywhere, and the wind whipped the snow into stinging needles. Its lonely moan resounded in the ears of the small party as they trudged against the elements. Visibility was nil.

TK shifted his grip on his staff nervously as he scanned the streets, turning his head this way and that, trying to see through the blinding snow. Matt and Gabumon were leading the small group, his father and Mark brought up the rear. Kari and Gatomon padded along silently beside TK. Joe and Jim had stayed behind to guard the hideout. Patamon, perched on his usual spot on TK's head, noticed.

"TK, calm down! I'm getting dizzy up here..."

TK took a deep breath to calm his nerves, and let it back out. He watched as his breath trailed behind him as he walked. "You're right."

The small group slipped silently through the streets. Night was approaching, and it was beginning to get dark. The howling wind blew stinging needles of snow into their faces, causing their eyes to tear. Matt had timed it that way. _If we're discovered, then in the dark and snow, we'd have a better chance of getting away_. TK was forced to agree with his brother's reasoning, but it made him nervous nonetheless, not being able to see farther than his hand. _For once, the weather's on our side,_ he reminded himself silently_._ Shifting his grip on his staff again, he stepped around a large crater, and continued on his way.

He looked back to see how his father was doing. His Dad and Mark walked grimly, not talking unless absolutely necessary. The streets were a dangerous place, especially at night. Mark shifted the bag on his shoulders, carefully rearranging the laptop strapped to his back, and trudged on, head bowed against the wind. 

TK turned back, and concentrated on his own walking, squinting his eyes against the blinding snow. Normally, he wouldn't be this nervous. Cautious sure, but he had run enough missions along with the group to know what he was doing. Yet this time was different.

Mark and his father, Kevin Ishida, had finally found the key to penetrating Diaboromon's firewall. They had built their own little hacker's program on the computer back at the base, and then had uploaded it onto the laptops that they now carried on their backs. Matt had almost jumped with excitement when they'd told him that they were ready to try it out. TK supposed he could understand.

If the firewall could be penetrated, and they could get online without being detected, then the implications were enormous. The information they could gain alone would be well worth the effort. Troop movements, how Diaboromon managed to transport digimon from the digital world, his plans for the rest of the city, for the rest of the world, patrol patterns, schedules, shifts...all that would be available at the touch of a key. And that was only the beginning.

With a little luck, they could upload viruses if they wanted to, wreak havoc with his network, screw up his communications, disrupt his army...the possibilities were endless. They could even send false orders to his troops. That is, if it worked.

TK again scanned the street nervously, his gloved hands tightening on his staff. All he could see was blinding snow. The blizzard cloaked everything in an obscuring white haze. Adjusting his communicator, he made sure that the safety was on. They had each been given one, basically walkie-talkies, but had been told not to use them unless absolutely necessary. Diaboromon would be able to track the signals. 

He felt like he was one huge spring, wound up tighter than it was supposed to go, ready to snap at the slightest provocation. The problem was that if they didn't manage to penetrate the firewall successfully, Diaboromon would be able to track them instantly. They had all concluded that it was too dangerous to try it back at the base. If they failed, then they would have to set up camp elsewhere, since Diaboromon would surely be able to pinpoint their location. The base wouldn't be a secret anymore.

Ahead, Matt abruptly stopped. They had arrived. Through the blizzard, TK saw his lanky form hold up a hand. The entire troupe instantly froze, and flattened themselves against the wall. Matt looked at Kari, and nodded towards the building ahead. The small resistance had grown so close that vocal commands were no longer necessary. Simple gestures were understood just as well. Kari darted ahead into the blinding snow, with Gatomon close by her heels, and disappeared into the building. TK watched her slim form anxiously as it disappeared into the darkness, then turned back to scanning the streets. Not a single word was exchanged.

The storm howled on.

Several minutes later, Kari appeared in the doorway again. She made an OK sign with her hand, and motioned the others in. Matt silently led the rest of the group inside the building. TK stepped out of the blinding blizzard with a sigh of relief, and brushed the snow off his jacket.

"All clear." Kari said to Matt. "I didn't see anything changed from last time we were here. No people, no gangs, no bugs. It's safe."

Matt nodded brusquely. "TK, stay here and guard this doorway. Kari, take Gatomon and keep a lookout on the roof for incoming air patrols. You know where to find us." With that, he turned and walked deeper into the building with Gabumon at his heels, his father and Mark following him. Padding silently, they disappeared into the gloom.

Kari glanced at TK and smiled encouragingly. "Don't worry, the program will work. Have a little faith in your father." With that, she and Gatomon bounded up the stairs.

TK sighed, and took up a position behind the doorway. Slumping down onto his haunches, he blew on his hands, trying to warm them. Patamon jumped off his head, and took up a position on the other side of the door. The blond boy settled down to wait, gripping his staff tightly, and his blue eyes scanned the streets again. 

The storm howled on.

Matt padded silently through the deserted building until he came to a dark room deep in the bowels of the abandoned office block. In here, the storm was but a distant roar. Reaching into his pocket, he took out a small camping light, switched it on, and set it in the middle of the room. The feeble light it cast did nothing to illuminate the dark corners, but at least they could see where they were going now. He looked at his father and nodded. "Go ahead, do it."

Kevin and Mark went to the table in the center of the room, pulled out their computers, and set up. Opening the cases, they warmed the computers up, and Matt watched as the screens flickered to life, the lights along the side flashing as they ran through their startup diagnostics and warm-up programs.

They had picked this building to try out their hacker's program for several reasons. It was a fair distance away from the base. If the program failed, and Diaboromon was able to track them, then he wouldn't find their base. All he would find by the time he got there was an empty, abandoned shell of a building, just like the rest of the city. 

Everyone had drilled getting back to the base, and they all knew several routes by heart, even in the freakish weather conditions out there. If it came to that, they had orders to scatter, and make their way separately back to the base. The location of the base was to remain a secret, at all costs. 

This building was also one of the few surviving ones left with an intact Internet connection. TK and Matt had scouted countless other sites out over the past week, and this had definitely been the best.

Standing behind the doorway, Matt leaned against the wall, his arms crossed across his chest to keep warm. Posting himself as a guard, he ensured that they wouldn't be interrupted in their task. Casting his eyes back on the two men, he gazed curiously as they set about their jobs.

Mark handed Kevin a cable, which he plugged into a port on the side of his laptop. Then he connected another cable to his own computer, and placed the other end near the data port in the wall. Talking in low voices, they ran through a checklist. 

"Modem."… "Check."

"Program."… "Check."

"LAN." Kevin grinned at his partner's use of fancy language. Pressing a couple keys, he made certain that the two laptops were properly linked. "Check."

"Firewall."… "Check."

"Anti-virus program."… "Check."

"Log-on program."… "Check."

The checklist took several minutes, and Matt quickly gave up trying to understand them. Finally, everything seemed to be prepared.

Mark glanced at his partner. "You ready?"

Kevin bared his teeth in a savage grin. "Let's do it." They both knew their roles. Mark would be attempting to log on to the network, while Kevin would be fending off any guardian protocols, tracers, cookies, or anything that might contaminate or give away their location.

Mr. Izumi nodded, and plugged in the cable.

**New York**

Tai stared in amazement at the newly digivolved digimon towering above him. Galgomon leaped into the air. "Gatling Arm!" An orange nimbus surrounded his gauntlets, and suddenly he let loose an incredible barrage of high-velocity slugs.

Tai rolled over desperately and covered Sora's injured body with his own as the attack slammed into the ground. He cringed as tremendous explosions resounded through the street, and the explosive slugs ripped up the ground like confetti. Bits of shrapnel pelted his back, and he gasped as a chunk of concrete slammed into his shoulder, yet he gritted his teeth and held on, shielding Sora from the flying debris. _So that's where those marks came from..._

Bakemon were sent flying into the air from the explosions. Those were the lucky ones. Those that were unfortunate enough to be caught in the blast were shredded instantly. With a roar, Galgomon landed with a thud, and methodically began wiping out the entire legion. His eyes glowed with an insane battle rage, as he had revenge on those that had hurt his master so.

Tai looked around, and sucked in a breath. A couple Bakemon had apparently decided it was too hard to battle Galgomon, and had targeted Willis instead. "Willis, look out!" he screamed.

Willis turned his head, but he was too late. "Ghostly fist!" one of the Bakemon exclaimed. His attack, a huge, extending blue fist (yeah, I know it sounds corny, but it's true), caught Willis a glancing blow to the head. The blond boy was lifted off his feet with the punch, and landed with a resounding _crunch_.

"Willis!!" Galgomon roared. Struggling, he tried to reach his master's side, but the Bakemon clung on like limpets. He tore at them furiously, trying to shake them off, but he wouldn't make it in time.

The small party of Bakemon stood over the fallen boy triumphantly. "Ghostly – "

"Pepper Breath!"

"Spiral Twister!"

The attacks blasted the Bakemon, and they were deleted instantly. Suddenly, Agumon, Biyomon, Tentomon and Palmon were surrounding Willis in a protective line, fending off all comers with their attacks. The blond boy looked around in amazement. _Why are they doing this? I just injured one of them, and yet they're still trying to protect me!_

"Willis!" Galgomon roared again. With a mighty effort, he threw off the Bakemon clinging to him. Leaping into the air, he leveled his cannons on the remnants of the legion. "Gatling Arm!" Explosions from slugs rocked the streets, and a nearby building collapsed entirely, reduced to a pile of rubble.

In moments, it was over. The legion was simply no match. Tai breathed a sigh of relief. "Nice work Agu -"

Without warning, Galgomon turned. "Gatling Arm!" Suddenly, the champion ripped loose another devastating barrage.

Izzy and Mimi dived out of the way of the attack. Tucking and rolling, they leapt to their feet again, and stared in numb horror at the devastated ground where they had stood a moment ago. "Hey, what's the big idea?" Izzy shouted at the Willis. "We just saved you!"

Willis stood up slowly, one hand cradling his cheek. He held up his other hand. Galgomon looked at his master incredulously. "But Willis…". His master merely turned and looked at his digimon, and Galgomon reluctantly lowered his arm. He did not however, devolve. "Why did you protect me?" The boy's clear green eyes stared at each one of them in-turn. "What's in it for you?"

"Don't you understand?" Sora gasped weakly as she stood up, leaning on Tai. Biyomon flapped anxiously around her master. "We need your help to defeat Diaboromon. If we really wanted to hurt you, don't you think we'd have tried by now?"

Willis frowned. She had a point. _And they did defend me._ "All right, I'm listening."

Tai heaved a sigh of relief. At least he wasn't attacking them anymore. He stepped up. "We shouldn't talk now. They're probably setting up a dragnet as we speak. In under a minute, this whole place will be crawling with buggers. We can talk elsewhere."

Turning his back on the boy, he looked at his own group. "Izzy, have Tentomon go up and look out for incoming. Mimi, take Sora's bag." Mimi hopped to Tai's side, and scooped up Sora's backpack, putting them on her own shoulders. Izzy nodded at Tentomon, who buzzed up into the sky. Tai picked up Sora in his arms, cradling her slim form gently.

A moment later, Tentomon buzzed back down. "You're right Tai. A party of Diaboromon are converging on this spot. If I could see further, I'd bet that they're setting up a dragnet around this entire city block as well." The digimon looked at their leader. "So what now?"

Tai gritted his teeth. Looking over at Willis, he called out. "Well, are you with us, or against us? I wish I had time to explain ourselves, but we have to get out of this mess first."

Willis looked undecided, and for a moment, he seemed very small, and very scared. Then he nodded. "All right, but if you're lying..." He nodded at Galgomon, and the big champion glowed and devolved in a swirl of snow.

Tai nodded back, grinning triumphantly. Then he looked up at Tentomon. "Which way?"

Tentomon shrugged helplessly. "Tai, they're coming in from all over the place, in a dragnet. There's no way we can simply run away."

__

Damn. "Fine, we're heading west, so we can't get cornered against the sea. Mimi, you keep a lookout on our sides, Izzy, you bring up the rear and watch our backs. Try to cover our tracks as well." Then Tai looked at Willis. "Stay close, and don't wander off." His brown eyes softened. "I know how it feels to have your life suddenly cut out from under you. It's happened to all of us here. But you have to trust us. I know this sound cliché, but it's true. We need your help to save the world..."

Turning, Tai held Sora tightly as he ran due west, back the way Willis had just come. The rest of the group followed him without further ado. They had done this so many times it was beginning to become second nature.

Willis hesitated. _Am I crazy? Why am I trusting people whom I've never met?_ He ran after them, Terriermon running along at his heels. The feeling he had earlier came back to haunt him. Despite his misgivings, he felt that _something_ about them was special. He couldn't place his finger on it, but somehow, he felt he had something in common with them. _But what?_

The sky began to darken as night approached. The peculiar party of kids and digimon vanished into the streets, like wraiths in the dark, ghosts in the snow. In the distance, dark shapes began to approach in an ever-tightening dragnet. Tai looked anxiously at Sora as he ran. She had passed out, her pale face grimacing with the pain it took to breathe. He held her tightly. _You'd better be all right Sora..._

**Tokyo**

Kevin sweated bullets as he typed furiously on the keyboard. "Mark, you'd better log on quick, I don't know how much longer I can hold it..."

Mark, typing furiously at his own laptop, didn't even bother to answer.

Matt's father was in charge of evading all attempts to trace them until Mark could safely log on. Using one of the programs they had whipped together, he rerouted tracers, cookies, and authorization requests, finding shortcuts and electronic ways around barriers as fast as they came up. His fingers all but flew across the keyboard in a blur.

Mark was trying to log on to the network. "Come on...come on...." he whispered as he watched the coloured bar run across his screen. Slowly, the bar filled up, and a "Negotiating with host" message flashed across his monitor. Typing furiously, he readied his hacker's program. The trick would be once they were online, to plant the program in the network, so they would be allowed to log on again.

"Mark, I can't hold it! You have thirty seconds." Kevin typed frantically, his eyes riveted to the screen.

__

Unbeknownst to him, a cookie managed to get past Matt's father without him noticing. Following its programming, it force-fed itself to Mark's laptop, telling the computer to save it to memory. Then, it settled down to wait...

"Mark!"

"I'm going, I'm going! Just a few more seconds..."

Kevin struggled desperately to hold back the network guardian protocols, but they were too fast for him. He was one human typing away at a computer, they were an entire network of mainframes, with almost unlimited processing speed. 

"That's it! I've lost it. You have 5 seconds before the alarm sounds, mark!"

"Come on...do it...do it..." Mark gripped the table so hard his knuckles went white as he stared at the message on the screen. _Negotiating with host...negotiating with host...negotiating with host...._

__

Two seconds...

Online with host.

"YES!!" Mark pumped his fists in the air triumphantly. "We're in!" Typing furiously, he secured the connection, locking it down and confirming that no alarm bells had sounded. Then, swiveling around in his chair, he gave Kevin an exuberant high five. "I am invincible!"

Matt and Gabumon were at their side in a moment. "Are you guys in?"

Mark grinned, slightly maniacally. "We're in, and as far as I can tell, not detected."

__

The cookie stored on his computer's hard-drive reacted. Its programming made several queries of the machine it now resided in. Apparently they were online with the network, but the machine did not have the proper codes identifying it as one of Diaboromon's terminals. Silently, it sent an alarm back to the network. The silent alarm spread through the Internet…

Matt pounded them on the back. "Well done guys!"

Mark didn't pause to acknowledge the praise. Again, his fingers were typing on the keyboard. "The hacker's program worked perfectly. We're online, and I'm creating a backdoor for us to sneak in again if we need to. We can even log on from the base."

Kevin was browsing through the network. "Matt, this is incredible! Look at this! Maps of troop movements, secure orders, data on the size of his army, where they're stationed, the type of digimon stationed, patrol shifts and paths..." He turned to his son with a triumphant smile on his face. "With this, we can finally begin to fight back!"

Kari was the first to notice something wrong. Standing on top of the building, she scanned the surrounding area with hooded eyes. It was hard to see things in the snow, but being higher up, she had a better view of everything. Suddenly, she noticed a small Bakemon patrol heading their way through the streets. Worriedly, she strained her eyes to pick out the details, cursing the blinding snow.

__

A standard patrol, ten Bakemon. She thought to herself. _I hope they're just out for a patrolling cruise. TK had better be on his toes..._

"Kari, you'd better take a look at this."

The brown-haired girl turned. Gatomon was pointing in the opposite direction. Straining her eyes, she saw a Diaboromon skulking in the streets. The dark, spindly shape was unmistakable, even in this weather. Not exactly headed their way, but it seemed to have stopped right where it was, looking in their direction, watching. 

Turning her head, she counted three other Diaboromon, all standing stock still. _What's going on?_

The girl looked around nervously. Not enough evidence to warrant an all-out attack, but something about the whole setup made her nervous. Diaboromon did not just stop in the middle of streets for no particular reason. The next Bakemon patrol wasn't scheduled to come by this section of town until tomorrow. 

She reached for her communicator, then hesitated. The device functioned as a walkie-talkie, and tracking devices, and they also had a in-built general alarm. If she pushed the button, all other communicators in range would begin beeping like mad. The problem was that sounding the alarm would break radio silence, allowing Diaboromon to track them. If she was just being paranoid, then using the thing would alert Diaboromon to their presence for sure. _No, I won't call, yet..._

Several minutes later, TK saw the Bakemon patrol emerge from the blinding snow. From his crouched position by the door, his slim frame stiffened. Patamon caught TK's sudden change in demeanor. "What's..."

"Shh."

Patamon shut up, and peered through the doorway himself. He sucked in a breath, then flapped over quietly, landing on TK's shoulder. "Do you think they've found us?" he whispered into the boy's ear.

TK gnawed on his bottom lip anxiously. "I don't know...they could just be a routine patrol passing by..."

"It shouldn't be. You and Matt checked out this area and its patrol shifts. The next patrol isn't due till tomorrow."

"They might have changed it..."

Patamon looked at his partner. "I suppose it's possible, but don't you think it's too much of a coincidence that they do it today of all days?"

TK's mind was racing. It _was_ kind of an incredible coincidence. He reached for his communicator, then hesitantly stopped. Using it would break radio silence, and he wasn't about do that unless it was absolutely necessary. _Yet...._ The young boy looked at the approaching patrol, a growing feeling of unease settling in his stomach.

"Patamon, go tell Matt that we might have trouble, then come back up here immediately."

Patamon looked alarmed. "TK, if those Bakemon really are out to get us, then I won't be here to protect you..."

"Just go!" the young boy hissed, as he adjusted his grip on his staff. "Matt's gotta know about this, and I'm not about to use the communicator. You can't digivolve without me anyway. Besides, you can fly faster than I can run. If you go now, you might be able to get back before they get here."

"But TK..."

TK turned to his digimon, his golden bangs waving in front of his eyes. "Hey, I can take care of a measly patrol of Bakemon, don't worry. Remember, I had a great master."

Patamon rolled his eyes. "My words come back to haunt me..."

"Don't argue with me. Just go!"

Patamon still looked unhappy, but he shot off into the depths of the building, as fast as his wings would carry him. Shooting down the stairwell, he flew towards the room where he knew the others would be. _TK, you had better be all right..._

Flying down the darkened corridors, he reflected upon what this building had used to be. It had evidently been some kind of office block, with offices lining the walls, each with a blown-out computer and a desk.

Finally, he saw a light at the end of the hall. Putting on an extra burst of speed, he flew into the room, startling the people inside. "Matt! TK told me to tell you there's a patrol of Bakemon outside."

The three freedom fighters looked up from the computer screens, startled by the sudden intrusion. Matt frowned, and Gabumon looked up from his position on the floor. "Why didn't he tell me by communicator?"

Patamon panted slightly from the speedy flight. "He wasn't sure whether the patrol was out to get us, or just making a pass by the building. I gotta get back. TK's helpless right now..." Patamon prepared to fly back out.

"Patamon, wait!" The little orange digimon paused, and turned around. "How many?"

"I counted a full patrol. Ten Bakemon."

Matt turned to his father. "Check that out. Did the patrol shifts change? Is there supposed to be a patrol passing by at this time?"

His father turned in his swivel chair, and typed a few commands on his laptop. Patamon stared, amazed. "So...you managed to get online after all."

Matt ignored him, concentrating instead on the screen as his father pulled up the general patrol shifts, then narrowed it down to Japan's patrol paths. A few clicks later, the schedule narrowed even further to Tokyo itself, and a map and table popped up, complete with patrol times, paths, and patrol squads.

Matt checked his watch, then traced a finger across the table on the monitor. "10:47pm, January 2nd

...Central and Kennedy St..." his eyes widened as his finger hit an empty slot. There was no patrol assigned to this time.

"Patamon! That patrol's not supposed to be there! You've got to get back up to warn..."

Suddenly, he was cut off by an insistent beeping noise. His blue eyes widened in horror as he pulled out his communicator. The light was blinking. The general alarm had been set off. _Someone had broken radio silence!!_

He snapped his head back up to gaze at his teammates. "Dad, get packing. We're leaving _now!_ Patamon, _go!_" The little orange digimon needed no second bidding. He shot off like a rocket. His master was in danger, and he'd be damned if he wasn't there to protect him. 

Matt ran after him, Gabumon at his heels. "Dad! Mark! Meet us upstairs, don't take too long!" Then he concentrated on sprinting down the hall as fast as he could. _TK, hold on…_

** Author's notes: Well? Like? Hate? Down there's your chance to tell me. Next chapter…someone gets hurt! (I think you can guess who it is…) Again, I had a lot of help from TS from this. Can't take all the credit myself.


	5. Default Chapter Title

****

The Long Winter: Chapter 5

**Disclaimers: I don't own digimon, never will. This fic was produced purely for entertainment purposes, and will not be sold.

**Author's notes: Well, like I said. Someone gets hurt in this, pretty badly. Read and find out who it is! (If you can't guess who it is already, well…)

Darkness was falling, and a light snow dusted the ground. The city looked quiet and serene, as the sun set slowly in the west, softly illuminating the flakes of falling snow. The air was bitter cold. A wind moaned down the desolate streets, blowing a soft flurry of snow along with it.

The sunset was lost on the small group as they ran. Tai's arms and back were beginning to ache from carrying Sora, but he wouldn't let anyone else carry her. He didn't trust anyone else to do it, not even Izzy and Mimi.

Tai, who was leading the group suddenly stopped at a corner. Everyone else skidded to a stop on the icy concrete, and held their breaths. He slowly peeked around the bend.

__

Damn. A Diaboromon blocked the path, slowly patrolling, its limbs waving as it searched for the five elusive children. Turning back, he shook his head. Quietly, they crept back the way they had come. No-one talked until they were at least a block away.

Then Izzy turned on their leader, his black eyes burning with frustration. "Tai, this is useless. We've been running around for an hour, and we're no closer to getting out of the dragnet than when we first began!"

Tai clenched his fists. "Well, what do you suggest we do?"

Izzy stared back. "We could fight."

The brown-haired boy chuckled. "That's my line." Then his eyes turned grim. "Seriously though, do you think we can do it?"

"No. Not a good idea."

They all turned to Willis, who was still scanning the frozen street, up and down. "Oh, we'd probably be able to take out a few, but my experience is that fighting just attracts more attention. Eventually, they'll overwhelm you. I learned that the hard way." For a moment, his green eyes looked pained, as he recalled something unpleasant. Then he shook his head. "We'll have to find another way."

Mimi beat her gloved hands together, trying to warm them up. "But what else can we do? Diaboromon's good, we've got to give him that. This dragnet is airtight, and it's getting tighter all the time."

Tai gritted his teeth, and turned to Willis. "You've been living here, fighting Diaboromon for some time now. Exactly what kind of a response can we expect in, let's say, five minutes if we charged the line?"

Willis stared into the sky, thinking. "Around three patrols of Bakemon, but they're so weak they don't really matter. In terms of Diaboromon…." He looked at Terriermon. "Around ten?"

Terriermon looked pensive for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, that sounds right. The problem is though, that after five minutes, more and more start to come in. The Diaboromon on the outskirts of town generally need five minutes to get down here. If you don't finish the fight by then, you'd be swamped by the reinforcements."

Tai shifted Sora in his arms. She groaned softly, and Tai looked at her worriedly, then back at the group. The sun sank lower in the sky. "Izzy, what you think? Ten Diaboromon in about three minutes, leaving us two minutes to get the hell out of here."

The auburn-haired boy looked troubled. His face was a bright cherry red from the cold "That's pushing it Tai. I mean, I know we can take ten Diaboromon, but under three minutes? Biyomon can't digivolve with Sora down, so we'd have to digivolve all the way, but…" He looked at Tentomon. The small digimon looked back. Izzy shrugged. "I suppose it's possible."

Willis looked around, confused. "What are you talking about? I _know_ Galgomon certainly can't take out ten Diaboromon in three minutes, no offense buddy, and those rookies of yours won't make a dent. Do you even know how powerful a Diaboromon is?"

Tai almost laughed out loud. "Don't worry, we can take care of ourselves. Like I said, we've done this before." He checked the sky. "Let's try to put this off for another hour or two, until it gets dark. Then we'll pick the weakest point in the dragnet, and try to fight our way through." He looked around. "Anybody have any better ideas?"

Nobody did. After a moment of silence, Tai nodded. "Alright then, let's go." Shifting Sora again, he ran back out onto the street. The sound of footsteps crunching on snow faded away slowly. In a few moments, the street was utterly silent again, as the snowflakes softly drifted downwards.

"Ghostly Fist!"

TK desperately parried the blow with his staff. The attack almost wrenched the bo from the young boy's grip, but he managed to hold on, then strike back with a vicious sideways swing. The Bakemon was caught on the head, and was sent flying across the room. Slamming into the wall, it dissolved into bits of black data.

Bakemon were essentially the foot soldiers of Diaboromon's army. Although rather weak, in large numbers, they still posed a danger. That was why they always traveled in patrols of ten.

Grimly, the young boy looked around the gray and crumbling room. He was outnumbered and surrounded, fighting in a confined space with no hope of escape, and he didn't have Patamon there to help him. He looked down at the flashing communicator clipped to his belt. _At least I managed to warn the others_, he thought. Bringing his staff up into the ready position, he prepared to fight, despite the overwhelming odds. _Come on Patamon, I need your help!_

Then, he cleared his mind, and focused. Inexplicably, the debris and stray snow on the ground started swirling around his feet, even though there was no wind. His frame seemed to flicker with a faint, golden battle aura. The crest of hope burned bright on his chest, and he seemed encircled with an almost tangible energy. His staff seemed imbued with a golden light.

The Bakemon hesitated at this sudden show of force, but then they shook themselves out of it. Several of them rushed in. "Ghostly Fist!"

The attacks glanced off TK's staff as he blocked them deftly, and moved to counter, but another group sneaked to his left. Lashing out with their fists, two more Bakemon tried to take advantage of the opening.

Swearing under his breath, TK whipped his staff back to block, and caught one of the attacks on the tip of his bo. The other one managed to get through, and caught him a glancing blow to the left shoulder. The blond boy gasped with shock and pain. Looking down, he saw the thick padding of his winter-coat had been ripped clean off, and his shoulder was bleeding badly. _Damn_.

Panting, he tried to back off, but the ghosts kept coming. Attacks flew in thick and fast, and TK desperately tried to fend them off, but his shoulder started to freeze up on him. 

Even injured however, the young boy was still dangerous. The staff hummed in his hand as he spun it in a blinding blur, blocking attacks from all directions. The flaming bo resembled fiery arcs as TK spun it skillfully. The bo tip lashed out several times, like vicious striking snakes, to score a few blows of its own. Three Bakemon joined their deleted comrade as they got careless and ventured too close.

Eventually however, the numbers began to tell. Several other attacks snaked past his defense and landed glancing blows on his slim body. _This isn't working,_ he thought grimly. _Each hit makes it harder to block the next one, and the next blow makes it even harder to block the next one…I can't win._

Finally, one of the ghosts got lucky. TK lost his focus for a critical moment and his battle aura diminished ever so slightly. Lashing out with his attack, the ghost caught TK squarely in the chest. 

"Ugh!" The young boy gasped. It was like being hit with a sledgehammer. The breath was knocked out of him, and he felt something give way painfully in his chest with a _crack_. The blow lifted the young warrior off his feet, and he slammed into the side of the office, cracking his head hard. His vision started to flicker and dim. The long staff slipped from his numb fingers as he slid down slowly, smearing a trail of blood down the wall. His aura started to dim.

The last thing TK saw was the remaining Bakemon floating triumphantly in front of him as they prepared to strike the final, killing blow. Then, everything turned black, as he fell into a swirling darkness…

Matt, Patamon and Gabumon raced down the halls, trying to get to TK in time. _Almost there_, Patamon thought desperately to himself, as he put on an extra burst of speed. _TK, hold on…_

As he approached, he could hear the unmistakable sounds of conflict. Then suddenly… "Ghostly Fist!". Patamon heard a gasp, then a sickening _crunch_ as something was thrown against a wall. _No…_

Rounding the corner, he saw six Bakemon floating in the room. "Ghostly…"

"Boom Bubble!"

The explosive bubble of air burst in the middle of their group, deleting one and scattering the others. For a moment, the Bakemon were too surprised to return the attack.

Gabumon arrived. "Blue Blaster!" The fiery stream took out another Bakemon, slamming it into the wall, and dissolving him into bits of black data. The remaining four Bakemon surveyed the drastically changed odds, and panicked. Disbanding, they each tried to dash out of the room.

"Blue Blaster!" Gabumon chased them out of the building, his fiery stream attack deleting another two as they tried to run away. The beam illuminated the swirling snow outside a bright cyan. The wolf-digimon disappeared into the storm outside as he chased the Bakemon away.

Then Kari and Gatomon came bounding down the stairs. "What happened? Who sounded the alarm...Oh no…" Kari stared in horror at TK's broken form as it slumped against the wall. Then she ran to his side, and cradled him in her arms. "TK! TK! What happened?" She stared frantically around the group. "What happened to him?!"

Patamon was sitting on TK's arm, shaking his shoulder. "TK…TK wake up! Come on…wake up…" _I've failed…I was supposed to protect him…and I've failed. _The little digimon was distraught, his blue eyes pooling with tears. "TK…come on…"

Matt fought down his panic, and kneeled by his brother's side, gently checking him over. Feeling along his arms and legs, he found no broken bones. Then he ran his hand over his brother's chest. TK grimaced and groaned, and Matt frowned. _Not good…probably a couple cracked ribs. He won't be able to run at all._ "He was attacked by a patrol of Bakemon. Gabumon's chasing them off."

Then, TK was suddenly caught in a savage coughing fit. His slim body jerked as he coughed, and Matt covered his brother's mouth with his hand. His frown deepened. He pulled his hand away from TK's mouth and looked at it closely. Blood coated his fingers. _He's coughing up blood. Internal bleeding as well._

Kari fell onto her knees in front of TK, and took his hand. His face was pale, and his breathing shallow, as blood trickled from a head wound and from his mouth. His blood stained the ground dark red. Tears pooled in her eyes. _No…not TK…_ He had been fine a few minutes ago. The glass pendant she had given him glistened slightly in the dim light, like a teardrop. It had miraculously avoided getting smashed, though the strap had broken. Then with a huge mental effort, she pulled herself together, wiping away her unshed tears with her sleeve. TK needed help, not pity. Time enough for blubbering later.

Gabumon came back in amidst a flurry of snow, shaking flakes off his fur. "That's the last of them. Two of them got away. Pity." He looked at the group, then stared concernedly at TK. "Is he all right?"

Then Mark and Kevin burst into the room, holding their laptops, still with cables attached to them. When they saw TK, they both skidded to a halt. "Wha…what happened?" Kevin ran to his fallen son's side, dropping his laptop.

Matt stood up. "Attacked by Bakemon," he said tersely. Ripping the sleeve of his shirt off, he gently wiped away the blood from TK's mouth, head and shoulder. Then, he took off TK's jacket and bound his brother's chest up tightly with the strip of cloth. "I know it hurts squirt..." he murmured gently as TK groaned with pain, "but it's for your own good."

"Uh...Matt..." Gatomon had taken up a position by a window and was peering tensely up and down the street, every fur on her body standing straight. "we have to get going. If that patrol didn't attract the attention of every digimon in Tokyo, then they certainly caught the general alarm TK broadcasted. And if, by some freak chance, they missed that as well, they'd still be able to track us because Patamon and Gabumon used their attacks..."

Matt didn't answer as he concentrated on bandaging up TK. His blue eyes were worried as he tended to his brother.

Mark stared at his watch worriedly. "Matt, it's been almost three minutes since TK broadcasted the general alarm. If we don't get a move on..."

"I know...I know." Matt finished tying up TK's bandages hastily. "Kari, take Dad and Mark and circle South. Don't go directly back to the base. Circle a little, try to confuse them." Kari nodded, and scooped up TK's pendant and staff. 

"TK and I will circle North, doing the same thing. Hopefully, we can throw them off." Stooping, Matt picked up TK's unconscious form. "Remember, the location of the base _must_ remain secre..."

__

Thump.

Gatomon looked back grimly from her post by the window. "Too late. They're here. Two Diaboromon."

__

Damn!! "Change of plans." Matt handed TK's unconscious form to his father hurriedly. "Kari you're in charge. I'm counting on you. Lead this group home. I'll meet you there..." Motioning to Gabumon, he started to rush out the door.

"Matt! Wait! Where are you going?" Kari cried after their leader.

Matt turned around, his slim form a silhouette against the crazy chaos of the storm outside. "I'll lead them off your backs." He flashed them a rakish grin. "Don't worry, I plan to live forever. I can't stand those heroic, self-sacrificing types." 

Then his ice blue eyes softened. "Take care of my brother for me…" Then he was gone, disappearing into the swirling snow, into the chaos.

A moment later, "Gabumon, warp-digivolve to..." A blinding burst of blue light erupted outside, and the storm abated momentarily as the snowflakes were pushed back. It was as if nature itself recognized the awesome power that was being unleashed. "...MetalGarurumon!"

"_Matt!!_" Kevin tried to dash outside, but Mark held onto him. "Let me go! My son is in danger!"

"No..." Kari was surprised how steady her voice was, despite everything. "He's doing this so we can get _away_. You'd be defeating the purpose if you went after him now." Glancing around at the group, she took a deep breath. "Come on. Let's take the back way out."

"But Matt's..."

Suddenly, something exploded outside. For a moment, the entire scene lit up like a lightning bolt had struck. Half the outside wall collapsed, and everyone was thrown off their feet by the concussion. Concrete debris and shrapnel pelted the group. Desperately, Kari struggled to her feet.

"_Come on!!_ Matt can take care of himself. Certainly much better than we can!" Mark dragged Mr. Ishida along, with Kari bringing up the rear as they ran towards the back exit. Spectacular explosions and attacks erupted behind them as MetalGarurumon squared off with the Diaboromon. More of the building collapsed around the small group as they dashed towards safety.

Together, they reached the back door and rushed outside into the dense, blinding snow. Kari paused, and looked back at the titanic conflict behind her, then turned back and ran after the others, into the swirling chaos, into the nightmare. _Matt…I'll lead them home safely…I promise._

Four Diaboromon stood along a street, walking along, searching the ruins of the city. Night had fallen, and the inky darkness obscured everything. It was silent except for the steady _thump_ of the Diaboromon's feet. 

Tai watched his frozen breath waver in front of his face. "What do you think?"

Izzy looked at the sky. "Looks good. It's night-time. They won't see us coming."

Tai nodded. "Fine. We'll do it here. Have Tentomon ready to digivolve. Mimi, you too."

"I still think this is a bad idea." Willis stared at them disapprovingly.

Tai sighed. "Well, why?"

Willis shook his head stubbornly. Again, Tai glimpsed an incredibly pain in his green eyes, but it was gone in an instant. "Even if you could digivolve, I'm pretty sure that 4 champions combined can't take down 10 Diaboromon in 3 minutes. I'm telling you, it can't be done."

Palmon chuckled. "Who says there'll be four 'champions'?"

Willis looked confused. "That's the term for it. Terriermon told me. When you digivolve from the rookie level, you turn into a champion. Don't tell me you can't even digivolve to champion..."

Agumon and Tentomon looked mortally insulted. Palmon giggled.

This time Tai did laugh out loud, quietly. _Has _he_ got something coming. _"Don't worry. We know what we're doing." He turned back to Izzy. "WarGreymon will take out that one on the left. MegaKabuterimon will take out the middle ones, and Lilymon'll take out the one on the right. Keep your eyes peeled for reinforcements." He turned to Agumon. "If possible, take the battle into the air. You fight more effectively there. Same for Lilymon. MegaKabuterimon stay on the ground. You know what to do."

Tai turned to Willis, and hesitated. "I know you haven't officially joined us yet, but..."

Willis sighed. "What do you want me to do?"

Tai looked relieved. "Well, if you'd have Terriermon digivolve, and climb on a building, he can strafe incoming reinforcements from afar. His ranged attacks can probably cut down a few of them before they even get here."

Willis nodded reluctantly. It made sense. "Fine. But this doesn't mean I've joined you..."

Tai looked back at the group. "Everyone got that?"

Izzy and Mimi nodded. Willis still looked dubious, but he nodded his head as well, apparently deciding to trust Tai's judgement, for now anyway. Tai shifted Sora on his back, and looked at the four Diaboromon before him. Biyomon didn't look happy. "If I could digivolve…"

Tai ignored her. "Remember, we have to finish this in three minutes, preferably less. Izzy, time us. Once we're done, everyone devolve, and run like hell." Tai was going over this mainly for Willis' sake. Izzy and Mimi already knew what to do.

He looked around. The Diaboromon were getting closer. "OK with everyone?" Nods. "Fine, do it." Agumon, Tentomon, Terriermon and Palmon leaped out onto the street.

"Tentomon digivolve to…Kabuterimon!"

"Palmon digivolve to…Togemon!"

"Terriermon digivolve to...Galgomon!"

Willis watched as three pillars of light erupted in the street. The rookies grew in size, sprouting claws, fangs and wings, until three fearsome champions stood in the street. "So that's your champion forms…"

"Kabuterimon digivolve to…MegaKabuterimon!"

"Togemon digivolve to…Lilymon!"

Willis' stared in amazement. "They…they digivolved again!" He whirled around and stared at Tai. "Who _are_ you guys!?" Then he blinked. "What's with you…" On Izzy and Mimi's chest glowed the crest of knowledge and sincerity. "What are you wearing under your…"

Another flash of light erupted in the street, this time much stronger than the other two. "Agumon warp digivolve to…"

Willis turned back, and his lower jaw scraped the ground. The little rookie was surrounded by an almost blinding aura. Before the blond boy's startled eyes, he saw the rookie flash through no less than _three_ forms. A war helmet appeared on his head, lethal-looking gauntlets with razor-sharp claws covered his hands, and wings with a symbol resembling a sun on them sprouted out of his back. 

"…WarGreymon!"

Twisting around, Willis looked at Tai. The brown-haired boy was surrounded by a slight aura, the same symbol on WarGreymon's wings glowed boldly under his shirt. Tai saw his thunder-struck gaze and laughed again. "Told you we had it covered…"

An explosion echoed on the street, and Willis dragged his gaze away from the three glowing destined, and towards the battle.

What he saw amazed him. The two ultimates and the mega charged the startled Diaboromon. Izzy stared at his watch. "Fifteen seconds…" he muttered.

WarGreymon's claws sliced the lead Diaboromon apart before he could blink. MegaKabuterimon simply rammed into the nearest Diaboromon, smashing them into a nearby building. Lilymon flew off into the air. "Flower Cannon!" The bolt of energy hit the Diaboromon on the right, deleting him instantly.

"Thirty seconds…"

Already, more Diaboromon were converging on the battle. WarGreymon shot off into the sky, slashing with his razor-sharp claws. MegaKabuterimon remained on the ground, wreaking havoc, an unstoppable power-house. Galgomon planted his feet firmly, raised his arms, and ripped loose with a lethal stream of flying lead, cutting down Diaboromon as they flew.

"One minute…"

Lilymon buzzed rings around a patrol of Diaboromon. "Flower Cannon!" she cried, deleting another two. MegaKabuterimon roared on the ground, swinging his fists and pummeling everything in sight. "Horn Buster!" The devastating attack smashed right through a city block. Parts of Diaboromon scattered through the air. Galgomon leveled his cannons at yet another group. "Gatling Arm!" The slugs hit home, deleting another Diaboromon.

"Two minutes…"

WarGreymon joined his hands together. "Terra Force!" To Willis amazed eyes, the big mega started spinning rapidly, turning into a raging tornado of slashing claws. Diaboromon screeched as they were sucked in, and slashed apart into fist-sized chunks of data. The tornado spared nothing. Entire buildings collapsed, debris and explosions blossomed everywhere. 

In a few moments, it was over. Black smudges of deleted data littered the streets. For a moment, a deceptive silence reigned.

Izzy nodded at Tai. "We're good. Two minutes, forty-seven seconds. Looks like a new record." Grabbing his bag, the auburn-haired boy sprinted out onto the street. The crest of knowledge still glowed brightly on his chest. "MegaKabuterimon! Come on…gotta go!"

Willis stared mutely after him, too stunned to move. Mimi grabbed the boy's arm. "Come on! We didn't look for half a year just to lose you now! Move!" Tai was already running out onto the street, Sora on his back. Dragging the younger boy along, Mimi yelled up into the air. "Lilymon! Let's go!"

In a few seconds, all the digimon had devolved, and were running alongside their human counterparts. Willis forced his feet to run alongside the group, his mind reeling, and feeling more than a little intimidated by the awesome power he had just witnessed. _They could've killed me anytime they wanted! Who…**what** are they? What was that light I saw glowing on their chests? What kind of digimon can digivolve **three**_ _times!?_

What the hell is going on?!

I need a reality check real bad…

**Author's notes: Yes, you read right. TK had a battle aura. It'll be explained, eventually. I'm thinking of giving them all some kind of supernatural power. We all know the digidestined are somewhat more than human. It's established that they have certain powers (Kari glowing in the Machinedramon saga, Matt healing WarGreymon and Tai, all of them glowing whenever their digimon digivolve, TK helping to heal Kari, need I go on?). 

In this fic, I'm thinking of giving them the ability to focus and control it, and to call on it at will, probably for combat purposes. And it won't be just TK either. Kari and the others will probably be able to do it too. Kind of like "the force" in Star Wars, except Jedi didn't have auras. Tell me what you think. Should I do it, or not? _I_ think it's a neat idea…


	6. Default Chapter Title

****

The Long Winter: Chapter 6

** Disclaimers: I don't own digimon. Never will. This fic was produced for entertainment purposes only, and will not be sold. Leave me alone, you vultures!

**Author's notes: Well, actually, I don't have that much to say. Someone dies, and that's it. Onto the story…Oh yes! I just found out that Mr. Ishida's first name is really "Richard". Well, it's too late to change now, so please bear with me. He'll continue to be called "Kevin"

Kari felt like she was running through a nightmare. A really cold one.

Driving snow whipped against her face, and the howling wind whistled in her ears. Desperately, she struggled on against the elements. The sky behind her blazed with alien fire, and tremendous explosions lit up the neighborhood like crazy lightning.

"Move! Move! Move!" she shouted over the howling of the storm. Shoving Kevin, who was carrying TK securely in his arms, ahead of her, she dashed out into the swirling snow, blind. Mark ran alongside her, struggling through the white powder. "Don't stop! Keep moving!"

A sputtering ball of plasma-like energy slammed into the ground behind them, a stray shot from a Diaboromon. Mark stumbled, and Kari held him up as she ran. Gatomon bounded alongside her master, and Patamon flapped beside the group.

"Kari! Look!" Mark tugged on her arm, and pointed ahead, shouting to be heard over the deafening barrage of the explosions. Kari looked up. Through the swirling snow, she saw spindly dark shapes flying through the night. A sudden-wind caught her and spun her off-balance, the wake of low-flying Diaboromon.

"They're converging on the fight!"

Kari didn't look back. "Then we've got to take advantage of the distraction! Come on!" Dashing forward, she pulled Mark along. Kevin was at the front, blazing the path, and Kari followed him blindly. At the moment, _where _they were going mattered little. They just had to _get away_. Kari could lead them back later.

In the dark, swirling snow, all Kari could see of the city of Tokyo was a collection of shifting shadows, black against black. The only times of illumination were when flashes from explosions blazed in the sky. Kari stumbled ahead blindly, driven by her resolve to get TK to safety. _You've saved my life more times than I can count,_ she thought fiercely. _Now it's my turn to save yours..._

A wave of heat blasted the group off their feet as a building beside them exploded in a rocketing fountain of fire. Kari twisted as she fell through the air, and landed hard in a snowdrift. Flaming debris arced downwards from the sky, and columns of steam shot up all around her as molten metal hit the snow. _We've been spotted. _For a moment, Kari lay on the ground, tasting the snow in her mouth.

Another pulse of wind, indicating another low-flying Diaboromon, shocked her back into action. Struggling back up, weighed down by five kilos of muddy snow clinging onto her jacket, she looked around desperately for the others. "Mark?! Kevin?! TK?!"

The entire street was a nightmarish field of destruction. Flames and explosions bloomed everywhere, and the sky blazed like chain lightning. Two more explosions detonated close to them, farther away. Diaboromon had noticed them, and now were beginning to target the fleeing group, though they were having trouble aiming through the swirling chaos.

"Kari!? Over here!" Kevin waved a free arm, his other arm still cradling TK gently. Kari nodded in their direction, then looked at Gatomon. "Nothing to lose now. Do it!"

Gatomon nodded. "Gatomon, digivolve to..." Once again, the cat digimon metamorphosed, turning slimmer as wings sprouted from her back. An iron mask appeared and covered her blue eyes. "…Angewomon!" 

Without waiting, the angel flapped her wings and shot off into the blazing sky. Kari covered her face as the down-draft swirled snow all around her, then she ran to Mr. Ishida's side. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, though I think the fall hurt TK more." Kari gazed at the injured boy worriedly. TK shifted and groaned in his father's arms, and a trickle of blood dripping from the gash on his head. His blood stained the snow bright red. Just looking at the boy almost made Kari cry, but she pulled herself together.

Reaching out, she ruffled his blond hair hastily, but fondly. She forced a fake smile of confidence on her face. "Don't worry, he'll be fine. TK's a lot tougher than you think." Then she dropped the smile. "Where's Mark?"

"Don't kno-"

Another explosion rocked the ground as Angewomon battled in the air. Kari shielded her face as burning shrapnel whistled by them, keeping low to the ground. She certainly didn't want to get hit again. A building on their left collapsed upon itself, its inner floors lighting up with burning fires.

"_You were saying!!_" Kari had to shout over the incessant explosions, even as she struggled to her feet, and pulled Mr. Ishida up along with her.

"_I said! I don't know!_"

Kari looked around frantically. _Where is he..._

"_Kari! Where are you..._"

Kari's head turned abruptly to the right. Through the blinding snow, she saw a dark figure waving a hand. "Over here!" She waved back. "Come on! We have to keep moving!" Explosions still blossomed all around them, though thankfully none near enough to threaten them. Kari couldn't see Angewomon in the swirling darkness, but she could definitely see the tremendous lightning flashes that lit up the sky.

The dark figure began running over. "Good thing I found..."

A fountain of fire erupted from the ground right in front of them. Kari and Kevin were once again blown back by the concussion. It was as if a giant's hand had scooped them up, and thrown them carelessly away.

Dazedly, she heard Mark scream...

Then, for the second time, she tasted mud and snow as she landed. Kevin lost his grip on TK, and Kari desperately maneuverd herself to catch him. The young boy landed heavily on top of her, and Kari's breath came out in a gasp. Hugging the unconscious blond boy securely, she struggled to sit up in the snow, gazing around wildly.

Above her, she heard Angewomon cry out her attack. "Heaven's Charm!" Then a bright, pink flash blazed across the dark sky like chain lightning. Kari thought she heard the screech of Diaboromon being deleted, but she couldn't be sure. All of a sudden, the sky was dark again, silent. The storm howled on.

"Mark!!"

Horrified, she saw the crater in the ground where Mark had been. A column of steam and smoke rose from it, and flaming debris still arced downwards all around. Kari painfully pulled herself upright. She strained to breathe, and choked on mud and snow.

"_Mark!!!!!_"

She stumbled over to the crater, dragging TK's unconscious form along. Her eyes blurred with tears. "_Mark! Where are you!_" All she could see was destruction. At least the incessant explosions had stopped. Angewomon dived down from the sky, exhausted, and devolved back to Gatomon. 

Kari dug frantically in the snow. "Mark! Mark! Can you hear me! Answer me!!" Then, suddenly, she saw a hand reach out for her, half-buried in the snow. Almost choking on her tears of relief, she grabbed it, and pulled.

Mark's hand and forearm, and nothing else, slid out of the snow. In horror, Kari dropped the severed limb.

Despite the storm, she heard it hit the ground.

Kevin staggered up beside her. "Where's Mark? What's the matter…oh sh*t."

Kari didn't answer for a few moments. She felt sick to her stomach. Gatomon padded up to see what the commotion was about. Her cat eyes widened, and she placed a paw over her mouth, like she was going to be sick. The never-ending snowstorm shrieked and howled, the full rage of war enveloping them.

Kari looked at both of them numbly. This was war, in all its naked, horrifying glory. No fancy technology to save you, no fancy machines, just the blood and guts spilled on the battlefield. She closed her eyes, tears traced their way down her mud-coated cheeks. _This is madness…_she thought bleakly to herself. _I'm losing them all…one by one…_

Then she turned, and she saw TK, his unconscious form still slumped in the snow, and her eyes hardened with a new resolve. Perhaps she couldn't help Mark. Perhaps she couldn't help Tai. But she _could_ help TK. That was one thing she could control at least.

"Kevin. Get Takeru, we're going home." Her voice sounded flat, emotionless, concealing the roiling emotions she kept bottled inside. Kevin strode wordlessly over to Takeru, and picked up his son's form gently. Kari walked up beside him, and checked him over. He was still bleeding, and his breathing was becoming more laboured with pain. To make matters worse, his lips were beginning to turn blue from the cold, and he was shivering violently.

Kari clenched her fists. _I'm not going to lose you too…_ she thought fiercely. _I've lost enough people. I can't lose you…I can't…_ Taking off her jacket, she sucked in a quick gasp as the bitter wind struck her. Putting it on TK, she tucked it gently, but firmly around the boy's shivering frame."Let's go." Turning on her heel, she kept one hand on Kevin's shoulder to prevent them from getting separated in the blinding blizzard. Patamon and Gatomon followed mutely. Together, the battle-weary group trudged on towards the dubious safety of home.

The storm howled on…

**Two days later**

Quiet reigned in the room. Dust motes drifted gently and peacefully in the sunlight. Willis looked at them, mesmerized. Outside, the air was bitter cold, but inside, it was slightly warmer. He sighed and looked around at the abandoned building. It wasn't much, but it was shelter, and home. He looked sadly out the window. But home for how long? It seemed like forever since he had lived in one place for more than 2 weeks in a row.

Tai padded softly out of the room. Behind him, he could hear Sora's soft breathing as she slept, Biyomon standing eternal guard over her fallen mistress. "Come on Agumon…" he said softly. "Let's go and let Sora have some rest."

Agumon reluctantly followed Tai out of the room, and the brown-haired boy closed the door softly behind him. Turning, he saw Willis look at him concernedly. "Will she be all right?"

"She's got a couple cracked ribs, and a few bumps and scrapes, but nothing that won't heal over in a few weeks. She'll be fine." Tai stared at the boy coolly. "No thanks to you."

Willis looked away, ashamed. "I…I'm sorry. I didn't know at the time that you weren't out to get me. I guess I was being too paranoid…"

Tai sighed, and walked over to their bags of supplies, pulling out a water bottle. "I'm sorry. That was low. I know you were just scared. I suppose I would be as well if I didn't have these friends to stand beside me." Tai uncorked the bottle and took a long pull. "She doesn't hold it against you, you know."

Willis looked up surprised. "She doesn't? After what I did to her?"

Tai shook his head. "No. She's that type of person." A small smile hovered around his lips. "Sometimes, I think she's too forgiving, but that's just me." The smile turned a little wry. "Though…I would be a little careful around the subject of hair-clips." 

After escaping from the dragnet, they had been forced to take refuge in yet _another_ building, this time well away from the center of town, where the patrols were more scarce. They had all opted to lay low for some time, since Sora needed the time to heal. Izzy and Mimi were out gathering supplies, while Tai and Willis remained behind to guard Sora. Terriermon was outside, standing guard.

Several moments of silence passed. Both boys sat in the abandoned room, gazing at the dust motes. "Um…Tai? You still haven't explained to me exactly who…or what…you and your friends are."

Tai swallowed his water. He turned. "I haven't? I thought one of the others would have told you by now."

Willis shook his head. Tai sighed. "It's a long story…"

"Well, since we've got nothing better to do right now, why don't you tell me?"

Tai smiled. "Well, I guess you have a right to know. After all, I did promise you I'd tell you everything." Sitting down, he leaned back a little. "All right, here goes."

"We are of a special group called the digi-destined. We were chosen since birth to be digi-destined, so we didn't do anything special to earn it. Sometimes things happen without any reason at all. It's called destiny."

"Each one of us is paired off with a digimon. I know you're familiar with the concept of digimon and the digi-world, so I won't go into that. Basically, the digi-world, somehow…chose us…to become their saviors. Our life-forces are linked with our digimon through these." Tai held up his digivice. "With these, our digimon can tap into our power, and digivolve at will, achieving more powerful forms."

Willis remained silent, but gestured for Tai to continue. He did.

"There used to be more of us. Eight in total, but when this war started, we got separated. Now, I have no idea where the others are, or whether they're even alive. My sister was one of them…" Tai's eyes were suddenly pained.

An awkward silence fell over the two boys. Willis shifted uncomfortably. "I'm…I'm sorry."

Tai forced a smile. "Don't be. We digidestined are a tough lot to kill off. She'll be all right."

"What about your digimon? How can they digivolve _three_ times?"

Tai grinned. "That took you by surprise, didn't it? Not all of us can digivolve three times. Only Agumon, and another digimon whom you haven't met yet can do it. The third stage is commonly called the "mega" stage. Everyone else can at least reach the "ultimate" stage, or the second stage. Kind of like MegaKabuterimon and Lillymon did."

Willis looked interested. "But what about those weird symbol thingies I saw glowing on your chests? What are you wearing under your shirt?"

Tai looked puzzled. "None of us are wearing anything under our shirts." He pulled the neck of his sweater down to show Willis. "See? What are you talking about?"

Willis looked confused. "But I definitely saw something glowing on your chests when your digimon digivolved. Izzy had some weird spectacle thing, Mimi had a teardrop, and you had some kind of sun…"

Tai self-consciously rubbed his breast-bone. "Those are our crests."

"Crests?"

Tai sighed. "Each one of us digidestined has a crest, a trait of human nature that is special among us. Those traits are our crests. By using these crests, we can make our digimon digivolve to the ultimate, and the mega level."

"Izzy, for example, has the crest of knowledge. Mimi has the crest of sincerity. Sora…has the crest of love." For a moment, Tai glanced at the room with Sora in it. "And I have the crest of courage. That was what you saw glowing on our chests."

Willis remained silent for another moment. "So…how can I help? You already possess so much power, much more than Galgomon has. What do I have that you don't?"

Tai leaned forward. "Willis, you're a digidestined as well."

The blond boy looked stunned. "Me? But I'm just a normal kid…"

Tai nodded. "That's what we thought at first as well. We were just normal eleven-year-old kids. Well, TK was eight. But you're more than that Willis. You're a digi-destined, and thus, you have an incredible power at your disposal. I still don't know what your crest is, but time will tell. We also needed to find you because you seemed to know a lot about Diaboromon."

Willis looked away, ashamed. Tai gazed at the younger boy concernedly. "Willis? What's the matter?"

The young boy looked distraught, and extremely guilty. _Should I tell him? Will he ever trust me again if I do?_

"Willis. We need your help. If you can't be totally honest with us, then we can't help you."

The younger boy took a deep breath. "Fine." Mentally crossing his fingers, he launched into the story of his greatest failure and shame.

"I used to have two digimon. One day, they just…popped out of my screen. I'm not joking here. Terriermon was one of them, the other…" The young boy trailed off, and Tai looked at him concernedly. Willis almost looked like he was going to cry, but he pulled himself together, and continued.

"They did everything with me. I was never very social, so I never had many friends. They were everything to me. We played together, we slept together, we ate together. Sometimes, they even did my chores for me. To make a long story short, that was when I first got the idea of making my own digi-egg." Willis shuddered. "Now, I regret it with all my heart."

Tai sat back, stunned. _He tried to make his own digi-egg?!_ Willis was a lot smarter than he looked, perhaps smarter than Izzy.

Willis continued haltingly. "Things went well at first. I was building it with my computer. Then my computer got infected with a virus. The unformed digi-egg was corrupted and consumed by it, and then it disappeared. Diaboromon hatched from that egg, and because of his viral nature, was able to digivolve much faster than other digimon. Within a day, he had reached the "mega" stage you mentioned to me."

Tai motioned for Willis to continue. "Well, you know the rest of the story from there. I was the one who created him, and I know what he's capable of. His viral nature absolutely dictates that he infect, corrupt, and take over everything in sight. He doesn't need a reason, or provocation. He's like a fire. All-consuming, sparing nothing." 

Tai was silent for a moment. _So that's how Diaboromon was formed._ Then the brown-haired boy looked over at Willis. The young boy's eyes looked haunted, dogged by the terrible mistake he had made. Tai walked over and put a comforting arm around his shoulders. "It wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known that a virus would infect your computer. It was fate that it formed, freak chance. You shouldn't beat yourself up over it."

Willis shook his head. "That's what I keep telling myself. But the truth is, if I had never built that thrice-damned digi-egg, Diaboromon wouldn't have happened. This wouldn't have happened." He gestured expansively at the ruined city around them. "And now look. The human race is all but gone. Civilization has been crushed into ashes. All because I thought I could _build a digi-egg!_"

The young boy shuddered again, and tears stung his eyes. Tai remained silent for a moment. Then "You said you had _two_ digimon? If so, where's the other one?"

A tear rolled down Willis' cheek. "He's dead. He was killed trying to defend me."

"Oh."

Tai was stunned. _So that's why he seemed so adamantly against charging the Diaboromon_. He himself couldn't imagine what it would be like to lose Agumon. Tai exchanged sympathetic glances with his digimon, then looked back at the young boy beside him. _He's only the same age as Kari. He shouldn't have to be put through this. Hell, no-one should…_ "When did this happen?" he asked gently.

Willis swallowed his tears. "About three months ago. We were surrounded, and Chocomon stayed behind to hold the Diaboromon off, while I ran off like a coward. Terriermon had already been defeated."

Tai closed his eyes. _No wonder he's so afraid of everything. He's lost everything in this war, and there was no one there to stand with him…_

Gently, he patted the boy's back, trying to comfort him. "Then why don't you join us?"

Willis looked up surprised. "J…Join you? After what I've done? I _caused_ this!"

Tai stared into the green eyes of the young boy beside him. "Willis, you're a digidestined. In a war like this, we'll need every ally we can get. Your help would certainly be appreciated. Your knowledge of Diaboromon, his strengths and weaknesses would be invaluable. And we certainly don't hold any grudges. Sora definitely doesn't, I don't, and I know Izzy and Mimi don't."

Willis looked hesitant, still reluctant to believe that he could be accepted this easily. Tai went on.

"Willis, this is your chance to ensure that Chocomon didn't die in vain. That your friends, your family, and all those brave souls that died trying to stop this menace will be avenged. Diaboromon _must_ be stopped, or he'll just keep expanding and corrupting, dividing and conquering."

"With power, comes responsibility. We, the digidestined, the chosen, have a responsibility to fulfill, a responsibility to the world, to the human race, and to ourselves."

Tai held out his hand. "So, are you with us?"

Willis stared at the outstretched hand. Images flashed through his young mind.

__

His mother and father, brutally slaughtered in front of his eyes…

His friends, screaming in panic and agony as they tried to escape the wrath of Diaboromon…

The ruins of the city of New York, the pungent scent of death drifting on the air…

Chocomon, standing fearlessly before overwhelming odds, to die so his master may live…

__

Battle…

War…

Death…

Because of him…

He closed his eyes, the flames and horrors of war flashing through his mind. Then suddenly, inexplicably, a new light began to flood his senses.

__

The hope of salvation that Tai now offered him, the chance to fight back…

__

The chance to redeem himself for his sins…

The young boy stared again at Tai's outstretched hand. He looked up into the brown-haired boy's hazel eyes, eyes filled with a wisdom and compassion far beyond his years, yet also with a burning drive to do what was _right._

And instantly, he found he trusted the other. Tai radiated an aura of competence, of leadership, yet was also compassionate and gentle to his followers. With a simple gesture, Willis placed his complete and total trust in someone else's hands. Something he had never done before, even to his parents.

He reached out and shook Tai's hand firmly. "I'm with you."

** Hehehehe…had you frightened there for awhile didn't I? Did you seriously think I was going to kill off TK or Matt? Well, Mark's cool too, too bad he died…. Oh, and Cat, sorry about killing off Chocomon, but then it would be too messy if Willis had two digimon with him.


	7. Default Chapter Title

****

The Long Winter: Chapter 7

** Disclaimers: I don't own digimon. Never will. This fic was produced for entertainment purposes only, and will not be sold. Leave me alone, you vultures!

** Author's notes: I'm back!!! I was on vacation, that's why I seemed to disappear for a little while. Not that long anyway, only about a week. OK. This is the last chapter of "The Long Winter". Basically a tie-up and a setup at the same time (if that makes any sense at all. Just read). A one-sided Takari. TK's still unconscious, so don't expect anything from him, though Kari's feelings for him are explored. Well, this is three days after the last chapter, and everything's settled down a bit, so keep that in mind when reading.

Again, had a lot of help from Tiger Shark on this, so if anyone sees her, give her a wave and congratulate her on the great job she's doing!

Jim Kido walked across the long hall in what passed for their base, or stronghold. His footsteps echoed dully in the otherwise silent corridor. Cradling a steaming mug of tea, he paused at a window, and looked outside.

Dawn was just beginning to break over the gray horizon. The city of Tokyo outside was covered in snow. _At least the storm's stopped,_ he thought to himself. The gray sky seemed to stretch on forever, above the forlorn and broken city beneath. Everything was covered in a wintry blanket of white, the snow glistened like gossamer jewels of diamond-like hue. Winter, when man's flaws are exposed.

The season of death. 

How appropriate.

Sighing, he turned back to walking. Looking out the window depressed him, and right now, he didn't need to be depressed. Things were bad enough as it was. _Funny, I thought morning was supposed to be a cheery time of the day._

Matt was missing, TK was severely injured, and Mark was dead. Not exactly a high point for the little resistance. The only thing they had gotten out of this was that they had established a link into the network. From now on, they could log on whenever they wished. Jim wasn't sure it was worth the cost. His footsteps clicked dully down the hallway.

Finally, he reached the right room. Holding the mug in one hand, he knocked with his other. "Kari? May I come in?" He wasn't really expecting an answer. It was the crack of dawn, and she was probably asleep.

Silence. Then Jim was surprised when he heard, "Sure, come on in."

Juggling the mug with one hand, Jim opened the doorknob, and stepped into the small gray room. The smell of antiseptic lingered in the air, from the disinfectant he had used on TK's wounds. Glancing to the side, he saw Patamon and Gatomon curled up, fast asleep.

Kari was sitting on a wooden chair, beside TK's bed. The boy's staff was standing beside the bed, retrieved by Kari when she had taken TK back to the base. The blond boy himself was sleeping on the bed, still unconscious since the fight. The small, gray room looked forlorn, and the girl seemed pale and drawn, yet she still managed to summon up a tired smile. "Hey Jim."

Jim looked concerned. "Kari, did you sleep at all last night? You haven't left this room for two days in a row now. I know you're worried about TK, but you have your own health to consider too."

He was right. Ever since the group had staggered in, TK had been put in this room, and Kari had been beside his bed. Shunning food, rest and sleep, she had remained by his side the whole time, not setting a foot outside the door, waiting for TK to wake up again. Like a vigilant guard, to protect the small boy.

Kari however, refused to be budged. "I'm fine Jim, really, I am."

Jim shook his head. As a doctor, he could see that she was not fine. The young girl looked pale, drawn, and tired, but it wasn't like he could order her out. With Matt missing, perhaps dead, and TK down, Kari was the next in charge. He sighed. "Well, if you're not going to come out for meals…" He held out the cup of tea. "…then someone has to bring the meals to you."

Kari took the mug, and wrapped her hands around it gratefully, allowing the warm liquid to warm her cold fingers. The fragrance of the hot tea tickled her nose. "Thanks. I appreciate it." She smiled gratefully up at the taller boy, her tired crimson eyes meeting Jim's own.

Jim smiled back, "You're welcome."

A short silence descended on the two friends. For a moment, neither of them spoke, as Kari sipped the tea. Then she spoke up. "Any news about Matt?"

Jim shook his head sadly. "None. I'm not giving up hope yet, but it _has_ been three days since the battle. With the city in such a stir over the battle, it's not safe to go out to look for him. All we can do is wait…and hope."

Again, another silence descended. Matt had been missing ever since the battle, and they had no idea if he was even alive or not. The frustrating thing was that he could be lying hurt somewhere, and they wouldn't know. Kari sighed. "Well, I'll give him another day, and if he doesn't show up by then, we're going to go look for him, and to hell with the patrols."

Jim smiled. She sounded so much like her brother. Then he walked over to TK's side. The young boy didn't look like he was sleeping well, his brow was furrowed in pain. His head slumped to one side, and his golden hair spread over the pillow, and his breathing was shallow, and halting with pain. Taking off the blanket, Jim gently examined the golden-haired boy. Kari peered over his shoulder anxiously. "How is he?"

Jim glanced over his shoulder. "Give me a moment."

TK wasn't wearing a shirt, so Jim merely had to unwrap his bandages to examine his cracked rib. Kari winced at the sight of the huge bruise on TK's bare chest. Jim probed it gently, then took a new roll of bandages, and firmly wrapped up his chest again. "It's healing nicely, though it'll be a couple of weeks before he can walk and breathe normally without pain."

Then he looked over at Kari. "Is he still coughing up blood?"

Before Kari could answer, TK was caught in another coughing fit. Hurriedly Kari took a handkerchief, and pressed it against his mouth. When the fit subsided, she pulled the napkin away. It was stained dark red, and it bore the evidence of many similar maneuvers.

Kari looked at Jim grimly. "Yeah. Though it seems to be slowing down." The boy's breathing was still laboured with pain, as each breath he took strained his ribs. Thankfully though, that was getting better as well. "Isn't there anything you can give him for the pain?"

Jim spread out his hands helplessly. "Like what? Kari, I'd like nothing better than to relieve his pain, but there's simply nothing I can do short of bandaging him up and giving him rest and food. We just don't have the supplies. The only thing we really have is his own healing powers, and his will to survive, which, I'm glad to say, is quite strong."

The brown-haired girl gently stroked a strand of blond hair off TK's forehead. "How about his head?"

The older boy shrugged. "He did crack his head rather hard, but again, it seems to be healing nicely. The gash has closed itself, and it shouldn't be a problem. He's a fighter, and a strong one at that. He'll pull out of it."

Kari smiled tiredly. "Well, that's good news at least." An awkward silence fell over the two.

Jim looked at Kari, and noticed again the pale, sunken cheeks, the tired eyes. The girl looked exhausted. "Kari…you really don't have to stay here. You should get some rest yourself, get a decent meal. You haven't budged from that seat for two whole days! Besides, TK's unconscious. It's not like he knows you're here. It wouldn't make a difference to him whether you're here or not."

Kari's shoulders slumped tiredly, but she shook her head stubbornly. "No, Jim. I'm staying here. When I was hurt, TK stayed by my side the whole time, and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't do the same for him. Besides…" a gentle smile caressed her lips as she once again stroked his blond hair gently. She looked up.

"It does matter, more than you think. When I was hurt, even though I was unconscious, I…felt…somehow, that TK was there with me, comforting me, helping me. If it wasn't for him, I don't think I could've pulled out of that incident. Now…"

Kari paused, and took a deep breath. "Now…he's the one that's hurt, and it's my turn to be there for him, just like he was there for me…"

She paused and looked at Jim. "You understand, don't you? When you feel as if you _have _to, _need_ to stay by someone's side, if only to be there for them, to support them. It doesn't matter whether they know you're there or not, or whether they can return the favour, because in the end, that's not what counts. It's crazy, I know, but that's what I feel…"

Jim pulled up a chair and sat in it. He was silent for a few moments. Then, "You really like him don't you?"

Kari turned away, embarrassed. "Well…he's been my best friend for more than 2 years. Of course I like him…"

The older boy shook his head. "No, that's not what I meant. I mean you like him, as in…" he raised his eyebrows suggestively.

The girl's cheeks flushed crimson red. "Oh…no. It's not like that at all…it's just, well, I like him a lot, but I don't think…I mean, I'm too young to be in love…I think…I'm only 10 years old!"

Jim smirked. "I thought so. You're in love." He nodded knowingly.

Kari looked like she was going to explode. "_Jim!_ I'm too young to be in love! I'm only 10!"

Jim almost laughed out loud at the expression on the girl's face. Almost. With a tremendous effort he restrained himself. This was serious, he could tell. She really did care for him. It wasn't just some childish game. Besides, Kari looked like she would die with embarrassment if he teased her any further.

"Kari…" his voice was gentle. "One thing you have to realize is that you and TK are much more mature than other kids your age. It wouldn't be fair to judge you two according to your age. You've seen and done things that others wouldn't even dream about."

"You two've been through a lot together. You've been friends for two years now, battled together side by side, and sometimes back to back. You've faced down demons and monsters far more horrific than people's nightmares, and you've saved the world, several times over." Jim paused, and looked Kari straight in the eye. "You two are more mature than most adults I know, and that's the truth."

Kari still looked abashed. Looking down at her tea, she took a sip. "Well, thanks for the compliment, but…what exactly are you saying?"

Jim leaned back in his chair, and looked at the two of them, TK lying injured on the bed, and Kari standing a vigilant guard over him. Ironically, the roles seemed reversed from what it had been a couple months ago. 

"Simply this. You shouldn't think that you're too young to be in love. Love comes at different ages for different people. Don't try to fight it, for in the end, you'll regret it bitterly."

Kari flushed red again, and she flashed a look at Gatomon. Thankfully, her digimon was still fast asleep, or she would hear no end of this. "When did you become such a Romeo?"

Jim laughed. "Hey, just because I'm a nerd doesn't mean I'm totally clueless." He got up to leave. "Kari, I see all the signs of you two being in love. All you have to do is admit it to yourself." Placing a hand on the doorknob, he prepared to leave the room. "Think about it. Don't let your age be a barrier…" Closing the door gently, he left. His footsteps once again echoed dully down the hall. _Click…click…click…_

Kari buried her face in her hands and groaned. _Was that supposed to make me feel better?_ She felt _so_ embarrassed. At least it had been Jim, and not someone else who was bound to tell everyone about it, like Gatomon. _In love? With TK? I don't think so…_

Yet, when she gazed down at the young boy, sleeping fitfully on the bed before her, she felt an undeniable bond with him. _Is this love?_ It didn't have the erotic nature, the component of lust that always seemed present in the love portrayed in movies. She certainly didn't lust after TK. The mere thought was alien to her. His good looks merely came as part of the package. Not unwelcome, to be sure, but not what she was attracted to either.

No. She felt attracted to his spirit. His gentleness and compassion. His personality, and not his physical body. The exterior was merely a shell, a vessel to hold the true treasure. From the moment she had first met him, she had known there was something special about him. He possessed something that not even the other digidestined had. A wisdom and compassion that surpassed anything she had seen before. She looked down. _Though he does look kinda cute…_

Is this love that I'm feeling? Am I capable of feeling love? Does he feel the same? The problem was that she had never been in love before, and thus had no idea what it felt like. Sure, she loved her brother…she quickly shut off that train of thought before it led to something more painful. She loved her parents, but somehow, that wasn't the same with what she felt now. Yet, at the same time, it wasn't exactly the same thing as what she would feel for a friend either.

Slowly, she picked up the glass pendant she had given TK for Christmas. Fingering it lightly, she gazed at the delicate symbol she had painstakingly carved onto the glass. _I mustn't lose hope…_Kari had pocketed the delicate object after its owner had been attacked, since she was sure he would want it back. Taking a piece of cord, she threaded it through the hole, creating a new strap, and gently put it around TK's neck.

Sighing, the brown-haired girl leaned forward, resting her forehead on TK's warm shoulder. It didn't feel awkward at all. They had known each other since they were eight years old, and such gestures were completely natural to them. She closed her eyes wearily. All this thought of love vs friendship was too complicated for her. She would let time sort it all out. When TK woke up, they definitely needed to talk about it.

She yawned. _I guess Jim was right after all…I really am tired._ She could hear Takeru's light breathing, feel the slight rising and falling of his chest, his heartbeat, and his shoulder made a nice pillow. Slowly, she drifted off to sleep, her head resting on TK's shoulder. The last thing she saw before she drifted off to sleep was his face, bright and angelic in her dreams…

Had anyone been awake to see it, they would've seen a soft, pinkish aura envelop the two children. And had Patamon and Gatomon seen it, they would've immediately likened it to TK's golden glow that had helped Kari when she had been hit with shrapnel. Gradually, TK's breathing became just a little less laboured. His brow smoothed out, and for the first time, he appeared to be sleeping peacefully. His coughing stopped. Even unconscious, he instinctively raised his arm and put it on Kari's soft hair. Together, the two children slept contentedly, and for a blessed moment, forgot about the war, forgot about everything but each other…

Izzy goggled at the computer screen. "So…you're online, just like that?!"

Willis smirked. "Yeah. It's real simple once you figure out how to do it. The first time was the hardest, but then once you're in, you can create back doors for yourself, so you can open them whenever you want."

Izzy scratched his head. "So…you can browse through everything? Is that it? Do we have complete and utter access to everything on his network?"

The younger boy shook his head. "Unfortunately, no. Diaboromon's put authorization levels on his network. The most common, mundane and non-sensitive information is in the lowest level, while the top-secret stuff is at the top. I haven't been able to go that high yet. Also, you have to watch out for periodic electronic sweeps that can pick up your signal."

Tai sat back. It was all Greek to him. Hell, it was all Greek to Izzy, so how was he expected to understand it? "Put this in English for me please."

Willis rubbed his eyes. He had been staring at the screen for the past three hours straight. "In a nutshell, we have partial access to Diaboromon's info. There are periodic sweeps of the net that detect any signals, so if we're online during one of them, we'll be caught, so we can't stay logged on 24/7."

Tai looked blank again. Willis sighed. "24 hours a day, 7 days a week."

Izzy was still frowning. "But what's the point of putting authorization levels on his own network? Is there a hierarchy among his ranks? Is he aware of you hacking into his network?"

The blond boy shrugged. "Dunno. My guess is he knows about the potential risk of hackers. The higher the security, the more firewalls, passwords, etc., the slower and more clumsy his network becomes. It makes sense that only the most vital and sensitive info would get protected the most, while the mundane ones, which are accessed more often anyway, would be less heavily guarded."

Tai, Izzy and Willis were sitting in front of Willis' laptop, which was hooked onto the Internet. Sora was behind them, having given up on trying to understand half an hour ago, and Mimi was standing guard.

Izzy reached out and typed a few simple commands on the laptop. "Amazing!" he breathed. "Even at the lowest level, we have access to stuff like patrol shifts and paths, troop movements, etc."

Tai leaned forward again. "Anything on the other digidestined? Has he found them yet?"

Izzy tapped a few more keys, then shook his head. "Sorry Tai. This level's too low. A request like that can only be made at a higher authorization level."

Willis took over, and started browsing through the network. "Well, just to be on the safe side, I'm checking the patrol shifts for this area of town. It would be helpful to know when the next sweep's coming along…"

Suddenly, the young boy stopped. His eyes focused intently on the screen, and a small frown appeared on his face. He pressed a couple keys on his computer, and noted the results on his screen with intense interest. Izzy saw the change. "What's the matter?"

Willis looked puzzled. "I don't know. There's just seems to be something wrong with this network. It's as if someone else has created a backdoor for himself, so he could log on as well."

Tai looked interested. "Is it one of yours?"

The blond boy shook his head. "No. I'm certain of it. This is of a different type than my own 'back doors'. The code is different. Besides, I don't remember leaving one here. Whoever did this was a genius, and I'm pretty sure that Diaboromon wouldn't be going around creating 'back doors' to his own network."

"Could it be someone else who has figured out how to crack the network, just like you?"

Everyone turned to look at Sora. She had been quiet for the most part, so the sudden sentence was unexpected. Sora shrunk back. "Just a suggestion…" she muttered.

"No. You're onto something there." Willis frowned. "There's not many people in the world that can do this. It would require somewhat of a genius to be able to hack through Diaboromon's firewall without any prior knowledge, but it can be done." He glanced at the others. "I had somewhat of an unfair advantage, since I created him. I know how he thinks. But then, whoever did this would have no such advantage. They would have to be _really_ good."

Tai bit his lower lip as he thought. "Do you think you can contact whoever it was that left that "back door"? It would be useful to see who our allies are. They're probably underground resistance groups like us."

Willis looked doubtful. "Well, technically I could rig up a program that would automatically send a message the moment whoever it is logs on. I can even trace where he's logging on from, since we've already found the back door. The thing is though, the message itself might be intercepted. You wouldn't be able to put any sensitive information on it."

Izzy nodded. "The message would have to be fairly short too, since large memory transfers would probably be detected. Another thing. Once you send the message, whoever it is would probably modify his program so that it won't happen again. If it was me, I would do the same thing. Secrecy must be preserved at all costs, and the less we know about each other, the better." 

He looked at their leader. "It's not going to be like email. We'll only be able to contact each other once, and even then, we won't be able to put any sensitive information on it. You can't use it to coordinate our efforts, that's for sure. We can't even tell them who we are, for our own safety."

A moment of silence. Then Sora spoke up again. She had to breathe shallowly to prevent from straining her ribs, and she still couldn't walk properly, but at least she as up and about. She had been lucky. Terriermon hadn't fired at her full force, or she'd be dead by now. "But we can send the message right? Even if it's just a message of encouragement?"

Izzy and Willis looked at each other. It was Izzy that finally answered. "I don't see why not. It wouldn't accomplish much strategically, but at least it would encourage whoever it is, tell them they're not alone. We'd also be able to trace where they're logging on from, so we might be able to contact them in the future," he said.

Tai frowned, then made his decision. "Fine. We'll do it. The traced location might be useful anyway." Leaning back into his chair, he sighed and rubbed his face tiredly. He had gotten three hours of sleep in the last three days. He missed his goggles. "Willis, type this out. This is the message we'll be sending…"

Joe scanned the streets alertly, the morning sun glinting off his glasses. Beside him Gomamon yawned from within his mound of blankets. "Why do we always get stuck with the morning guard shift anyway?"

Joe turned and stared at his digimon. "Oh come on, Gomamon. It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it."

The water digimon stirred sleepily among his blankets. "Yeah, well, it's still damn annoying to have to spend every waking moment on the lookout for danger, if you know what I mean."

The boy leaned back in his chair on the lookout post in front of the base. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I can't remember the last time I've gotten a good night's sleep without being afraid of an attack."

Then the boy and the digimon fell silent again. Slowly, the sun rose in the east, doing little to warm the forlorn scene. The skeletal remains of buildings stood out starkly against the horizon as the feeble rays struck them. Never before had the city of Tokyo looked so dead, so empty. It was as if the spirit of the world had finally died.

"What do you think about Matt?" Gomamon looked up at his partner, his dark eyes troubled.

Joe sighed. "Well…I don't know. Matt's one of the most capable people I've ever met. If anyone can take care of himself, it's him. But then, he was just one kid against an entire army…" He trailed off. For a moment, Joe's eyes looked uncertain. "I really hope he's okay. I hear Kari said that we're going to go looking for him if he doesn't show up by the end of today."

The water digimon snorted. "And we won't find a thing. Even if he's still alive, with the manpower that we have, the snow, and the patrols, you _know_ it would be just a useless gesture."

"Well, we certainly can't just abandon him! He could be lying hurt somewhere, dying, and we would never know. We have to at least try…"

Silence fell. For a moment, the only sound was the incessant wind blowing through the streets, lightly pushing the snow around. Joe watched as the snow danced across the ground in wispy patterns. He could remember times when he used to play in that snow, without a care in the world. He smiled bitterly. _Those were the days…_he thought ironically.

Slowly, both Joe and Gomamon's gaze drifted up to the goggles hanging from the wall. Matt had cleaned and repaired Tai's trademark goggles after picking it up from the summer camp, and now, it seemed to mock them. The leader of the digidestined was always at the forefront, always the first to take the bullet. And it seemed Matt had gone the way of past leaders…

Then, Joe tore his gaze away from the goggles fiercely. No. It wasn't going to be like that. Matt would be fine. He had to be fine. End of story.

Gomamon stretched, trying to relieve the somber mood. "Who's going to relieve us?"

Joe took off his glasses, and cleaned them on his shirt. "We're not getting relieved for a while yet. TK's down, and Kari's tending to him. Jim's already taken his watch and Kevin's obsessed with his computer for some reason. Something about the network."

The digimon flopped back onto the ground with a groan. "Oh mon…" (pun intended)

Together, the boy and the digimon continued to scan the streets. Despite their seemingly relaxed attitudes, they both knew that in war, the slightest mistake could prove fatal. And Joe, being the holder of the crest of reliability, was not about to let his friends down.

Then Gomamon squinted. "Hey, Joe. Look over there. What's that?"

Joe turned in the direction his digimon was pointing. Straining his eyes, he picked up a figure in the distance. "Dunno…looks like a human. I don't think he's a Bakemon, since he's walking and not floating."

Gomamon looked at his partner. "It might be Matt. Perhaps you should check with your binoculars."

The boy already had the binoculars up on his eyes before Gomamon had finished. Squinting hard into the lenses, he focused on the figure. He caught a glimpse of a lean, human figure, with ash blond hair…When Joe lowered the binoculars, his digimon could see his partner's eyes were flashing with excitement. A jubilant smile lit up his features. "It's him all right. Come on. He might need our help."

In a flash, the blue-haired boy leapt up from his post, and Gomamon jumped out of his blankets. Together, they ran down the stairs to the exit. Passing by the main room of the resistance, Joe poked his head in through the door. "Hey Jim, Matt's back."

Jim, who was at the moment gulping down a mouthful of water, choked. "Wha…what'd you say?" He sputtered around a mouthful of water.

His brother was already throwing on his coat. "Matt's back, and he might be hurt. I'm going out to help him in. Get some food ready, or something. He's probably hungry and half-frozen."

The young doctor collected his wits, and nodded. "I'll get right to it."

Joe didn't hear his brother. He was already out the door, running through the knee-high snow. _I knew he was too smart to get himself killed…_

In the distance, he could see the figure marching along in the snow, but as he got closer, Joe began to get worried. Matt was stumbling along, as if he was hurt, and Gabumon was nowhere in sight. He didn't even seem to notice Joe as the boy ran towards him from a side street.

Finally, Joe reached the lanky figure. He drew in a quick breath. "Oh my God… Matt, what happened to you?"

The slim, blond-haired boy looked up tiredly, and Joe was shocked at his appearance. His clothes were ripped, torn and coated with mud, blood and snow. Blood encrusted a gash on his head, and he was literally dragging his left leg behind him, carving a furrow in the snow. He cradled an unconscious Tsunomon in his arm, who looked to be in even worse shape. Looking down, Joe saw a trail of blood behind Matt, bright red against the pure white blanket of snow. Matt's glazed over eyes flickered over the other. "Joe…is that you?"

Joe ran up to his leader, quickly taking off his jacket and putting it on Matt's shoulders. Matt's teeth chattered, and his lips were blue from the cold. "Matt, you're almost there. It's only a block back to the base…"

" D…did the other's get back? H…how's TK?" Matt cut him off. His voice sounded weak, but insistent. "How is h…he?"

Joe put a supporting arm around his comrade's frame, and began leading him back to the base. "TK's fine. He's still unconscious, but Jim says he's healing nicely. He'll be all right in a week or two."

A small smile touched Matt's blue lips. "Good…" then his ice-blue eyes glazed over, and he stumbled, falling face-first into the snow. Joe frantically grabbed his friend and turned him over. "Matt? Matt, are you all right?"

Matt didn't answer. His eyes were closed, and his breathing ragged, as his teeth chattered. Desperately, Joe wrapped his jacket tighter around the hypothermic boy, then picked him up on his back, and began trudging back to the base. "Hold on buddy, you'll be all right in a few minutes." He tried to reassure the unconscious blond. Joe looked at his digimon. "Gomamon, do you think you can carry Tsunomon? I kinda got my hands full right now."

Gomamon nodded, and heaved Tsunomon on his back. The in-training wasn't very heavy, so the water digimon didn't have any trouble. Waddling along beside them in the snow, he glanced up at Joe. "He was really lucky."

Joe smiled through his tears of relief. "Thank God. I don't think I could stand losing another one…"

__

An hour later…

Jim stepped out of the room where Matt was sleeping soundly. He shook his head. He seemed to be tending to injuries a lot more nowadays.

Kevin stood outside anxiously. "How is he?"

The young doctor sighed, and took off his glasses. Rubbing his tired face, he put them back on. "Matt's fine. We've been really lucky so far. Both him and TK are going to be all right. He just passed out from exhaustion and hypothermia." He smiled. "According to Joe, he collapsed right after he found out that TK was alright. Maybe it was his love and concern for his brother's safety that kept him going, and when he finally found out, he just…well…collapsed."

Kevin wasn't satisfied. "Look, Jim, tell me what's wrong with my son, and don't sugarcoat it. As his father, I should know."

Jim wasn't offended. Kevin had, after all, had both his sons injured. Both of them were still children, and Matt had just been missing for three whole days. "He was severely hypothermic when he first came in, but he's out of danger now. He's wrenched his left knee, and there are a couple bad scrapes and bruises, but nothing that'll cripple him permanently." He glanced over at the father. "You Ishidas are a tough lot to kill off."

Kevin looked relieved. "Well, that's good news, to be sure. Can I see him?"

Jim shook his head firmly. "No. What he needs most right now is rest. That's the best medicine I can give him. I have nothing else to offer, I'm not going to deny him that basic necessity."

Kevin nodded reluctantly. "I understand. It's just that, as his father, I feel like I need to be with him…"

Jim laughed, and held up his hand. "All right, that's enough. You know, I heard almost exactly the same thing from Kari 'bout an hour ago. But this time, I'm putting my foot down. Matt's not ready for this, and won't be for at least another day. He needs his rest."

The older man sighed. "Well, I also have something important to tell him. Of course, the thing about Mark…" he trailed off awkwardly. Both men shifted uncomfortably at the mention of their dead comrade. "Then, I also have something new that I think deserves attention."

Jim's interest was piqued, but his decision remained firm. "Well, whatever it is, it can wait. If it's really that urgent, you can go to Kari with it. Though I don't think you'd want to. She's finally fallen asleep…"

Kevin looked up, surprised. "You managed to pry her off TK's side?"

The doctor snickered. "Yeah right. No. I didn't manage to get her out, and I'm beginning to think nothing short of an all-out attack would make her budge."

The older man looked confused. "But, you said she was asleep?"

Jim began walking down towards the central area of the base, where he had been working on cleaning their weapons. "She is. I just checked on her a few minutes ago, and she was sprawled over TK's chest, the uninjured side, fast asleep." He chuckled softly. "They looked so sweet together, I didn't have the heart to wake them. Besides, she needed the rest."

Kevin laughed out loud. It felt good. It had been a long time since he had smiled, much less laughed. "Even in war, love goes on. I do believe that girl's developed a certain attachment to my son." 

His smile turned bittersweet. "Who knows? If this whole war didn't start, maybe they'd be dating each other in a few years. I have a feeling they would've made each other very happy…"

The young doctor turned to his older friend with a smile as they walked down the hallway. He couldn't help but tease the man a little. "Aren't you the least bit concerned that they might get into some…ah…let's just say, something inappropriate?"

Kevin shook his head with a small grin. "No. I trust TK with everything I have. And Kari's the most mature girl I know. If my son had to date anyone, she would be my first choice. It won't happen. Besides, I don't think they're attracted to each other physically. It seems to be something beyond that…"

A small silence descended on the two men as they walked. Both of them caught in their own private musings of what could've happened, possibilities, the path not taken... 

Then Jim changed the subject. "So what's this urgent thing you needed to tell them?"

Kevin glanced up. "Oh, it's not urgent, just important. There's a difference, you know. It's just that I've felt that this whole outing was a disaster from beginning to end. The only thing we got out of it was that damned link into the network. It would be a waste to not use it, especially after all it cost us." For a moment, his eyes looked pained, as he recalled the death of his partner, brutally incinerated and blown-apart before his eyes.

Jim was alarmed. "You logged on? After what happened? Do you know how dangerous that could be…"

Kevin shook his head. "Don't worry. I triple checked the connection, and we weren't traced, not by Diaboromon. I also discovered that stray cookie that got past me last time, and I've modified our program so it won't happen again. It's perfectly safe."

Jim relaxed a little. "Well, so what? Matt and Kari already know that we can log on. That's not news."

Kevin turned into a room along the side of the corridor, and Jim followed him. "No. That's not news. What I did find surprising was that I got email."

"Email?" Jim looked blank. "In the middle of this war?"

Kevin shrugged. "Someone had apparently found our little 'back door', and then posted a message so that the next time we logged on, we would receive it. It wasn't Diaboromon, of that I'm certain."

They approached Kevin's computer, and the older computer expert slipped into the chair, typing up a few keys, and calling up a window. "So, what exactly was this message?" Jim asked. His curiosity was more than piqued now. If it wasn't Diaboromon, then who was it?

The older man turned the monitor so the young doctor could see. "I think this came from a fellow resistance group, much like ourselves, who discovered how to log on without being discovered. They didn't include any info about themselves. It would be too dangerous for them to do so, since this message could've been intercepted. It's also rather short, but that's because large memory transfers would be detected. This is what they sent me…"

__

Our time is short, so we shall keep this brief. You are not alone. There are more of us out there, people who refuse to bow down to Diaboromon. Band together, cooperate. Apart, we are nothing, mere embers of resistance, easily snuffed out, but together, we are strong as a raging fire.

Life will go on, despite Diaboromon's best efforts to crush it. We humans are a tough lot to kill off. Remember that. Don't lose hope, for you are not alone…

Kevin looked up from the screen, and gazed at the young doctor beside him. "Well, what do you think?"

Jim smiled. His eyes looked alight, and it seemed his heart had been refreshed, as if the inner fires of hope had taken new light. "We're not alone…" Then, he traced a finger across the screen, slowly mouthing the words as if to memorise them.

__

Apart, we are nothing, mere embers of resistance, easily snuffed out, but together, we are strong as a raging fire…

Poetic, he mused. _But then, I've always liked poetry…_

** Author's notes: Um…sorry if that last message seemed a little corny. So sue me, I suck at poetry. Stick to prose. You'll live longer. *sighs * I think I bit off a bit more than I can chew this time. I _was_ planning to make this a long and involved story, but nothing this…epic, you know what I mean? Way too long for a debut fic anyway. 

Thanks to all my loyal reviewers. Hope you stick with me over the long run. Well, as you can see, this story will be continued in yet _another_ saga, dunno, anywhere from 7, to even 10 chapters long (*groans* I hope not). I'll do everything in my power to make it the last. Any longer, and this'll just become pointless rambling, and I'll probably start to lose you guys to boredom. Sometimes, it seems like this fic has a life of its own. (I wonder, who's writing who?) Tentative titles are "Sacrifice of Angels", or maybe "Out of the Ashes." Dunno. Haven't decided yet. As of right now, I'm thinking of setting it quite some time after "The Long Winter", around 4 years, though that may change. That would mean TK, Kari and Willis are fourteen, while Tai and the others are seventeen, etc. etc.

What is certain though, is that the rebellion will be much more established. Expect things like secret hidden bases, rebel cells / commanders, secret underground passages, etc. etc. Anyone wonder what it'd be like to have the digidestined command an entire army? What kind of leaders would they make?

Intrigued? Well, just wait and see.

PS. Sorry about Angewomon's attack. According to both my reviewers and my editor, Tigershark (TS), it's "Heaven's Charge", not "Heaven's Charm." Sorry. I'll fix it in the future.


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